


Roommates

by PrinceofDarkness15



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben and Rey live together and fuck each other....alot, Childhood Trauma, Consensual Sex, Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, F/M, Falling In Love, Resolved Sexual Tension, Rey is a bit a rebel, Roommates, Sexual Tension, Size Kink, Soft Ben Solo, chatoic Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:40:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 57,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25479334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceofDarkness15/pseuds/PrinceofDarkness15
Summary: A story where Rey has the hots for her coworker and new roommate, Ben Solo. Of course, she’s not alone—he feels the exact same way for her too.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 31
Kudos: 113
Collections: Finished Works





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> STATUS: COMPLETE!

Rey moved her eyes with the crowd that bustled past Coffee Delights. She'd been working for about three hours now--the first two of which she'd spent listening to some random girl whose name she couldn't remember introduce products and procedures at warp speed. Now she was just thankful for the wall if windows that face the busy New York streets. Her mind had wandered with the people outside, making up stories about who they were, where they'd come from, and where they were going.

A woman in a hot-pink miniskirt hobbled past in chunky black boots that laced all the way up to her calves. She'd clearly spent the night being ridden hard by a cowboy who'd come into town with a fictional rodeo story in tow. He'd roped her from his horse, stole away with her to his hotel room, and promised to look her up the next time he was in town.

But Rey already knew how this story ended, he wouldn't call her up, and she'd be left alone, looking forlornly down random streets as the memories of the fierce fucking he'd given her swamped in her mind at the most inopportune times. 

Rey just shook her head. She almost felt bad for Miss Pink Miniskirt, there. Hers would be a steadily more difficult life.

"Excuse me! Miss! Miss!"

Rey came back to herself with a sudden start. Blinking rapidly, she focused on the woman standing directly in front of her---a lady with a severe black bun and a tweed suit. 

"I-I'm sorry about that," Rey said. A wide smile overtook her face as she continued. "How may I help you today?"

Black Bun didn't return the smile, however. Instead, she looked harried and rather irritated by something. Rey instantly grew quite wary of this woman who looked like the date of everyone she encountered that day depended on whether or not she got a faint container of coffee--thought it made Rey feel a bit like a superhero barista. 

With this one order, she would be saving this woman's co-workers from being murdered with a variety of different office supplies for sure.

"I need a...."

And that was where Rey's understand of Black Bun's ordered ended and her confusion began. The woman rattled off a whole combination of unfamiliar words with such speed that Rey wondered if the terms were even applied to coffee. Surely there was no way _all_ these words would could be foreign to her. Though the woman ended her request with the word "latte," a word Rey understood, it did nothing to clarify exactly what she was supposed to be making for this person.

"I'm sorry, but what?"

Black Bun repeated her order a second time, but the result was just the same. Rey turned and stared at the giant menu posted on the wall just behind her on the counter in hopes that she'd see something that resembled the woman's order. No such luck.

Rey turned around slowly and stared at the woman awkwardly, unsure if asking her to repeated it again for a third time was worth either of their time.

"Jesus Christ, girl!," Black Bun muttered under her breath. "I said I just wanted a grande quad non-fat, one-pump, no-whip mocha latte. How _hard_ is that for you get?"

This time, though, Rey heard all the words, but they meant nothing to her when strung all together like that. Rey put her palms on the counter and leaned on them. "That's not a thing. I refuse to believe it."

The woman gritted her teeth. "Do you have a manager?"

"Probably," Rey replied. She figured the guy who had hired her was a manager, but she didn't remember what he'd said his exact title was. 

Black Bun's face began turning an unnatural shade of red. "Well, can you get them, then?" 

"Sure," Rey said brightly. That was something she could actually help with. Kind of. She turned to address the three other employees she'd been working with that day. "Do we have a manager on duty, and more importantly, is the manager even here?"

"Yeah, Poe's in the back," a voice behind her said. "He's doing his usual morning rounds."

Rey whirled around to see the cute dark-haired who'd been wiping off the tables. He twisted a rag in his hands, making his forearms bunch. He was the only name she cared to remember because he was so damn hot. _Ben._ Ben Solo.

"I can get him for you if you need me to, Rey," Ben continued.

"Great. Thanks." Rey replied as Ben started to walk off. "He's going to get him." Rey said to Black Bun.

The woman eyed her warily. "Is there something mentally wrong with you?"

Rey had heard this question quite a lot through the years, and it had stopped offending her a long time ago, especially since, yes, according to multiple medical professionals, there was something most _definitely_ wrong with her. But Rey had also learned that people rarely wanted her to answer honestly, and even though Rey didn't much care about what made other people comfortable, she needed this job. 

So she merely shrugged her reply, which she figured was as close to the truth as she could get without alarming a complete stranger.

"Is there a problem here?" Poe asked as he suddenly appeared at her side.

Rey gestured to Black Bun, meaning she was the one causing the problem, but the woman clearly took it as Rey leaving it up to her to answer because she started in immediately. "Yes, actually there is. This _person_ you have working here doesn't know how to do her job."

Which was true. Rey couldn't really argue the point, but she couldn't help but defending herself. "This _lady_ invented a drink and expects us to make it for her."

The woman actually stomped her foot which raised a lot of eyebrows of the people sitting nearby who had tuned into the conversation. What is she twelve years old or something? 

"That is an outright lie. I get this drink here almost every single day!"

"And what is the drink, ma'am?" Poe asked.

"A grande quad non-fat, one-pump, no-whip mocha latte."

"Okay, no problem." He turned to one of the nearby baristas behind them, "Phasma, can you make this woman's order for me?"

"Absolutely," Phasma said as she sprang into action.

Rey glared over at Phasma, who'd clearly let Rey suffer through dealing with Black Bun when the girl had known the order the entire time. Silently. Rey put a voodoo curse on the pixie-haired platinum blonde traitor. Poe told the woman her order would be comped, which caused her to flounce to the waiting area with her chin up. Rey extended the curse to include her too.

The next person in line was a guy with a much simpler order. Thank God. Rey made his coffee and rang him up with no issue. Soon after, Phasma rushed the woman's order to her and Black Bun disappeared into the crowd on the street.

Poe approached Rey a moment later. "Can I see you in my office right quick?"

"You have an office?" The words were out of Rey's mouth before she even had a chance to think about them first. 

"Yes," Poe said slowly, suddenly looking at her as if she were something he needed to handle with extreme caution. "Ben will take over for you until you come back."

Ben materialized at her side and Rey signed off the register so that he could sign on. Then she followed Poe back to a small clove he was incorrectly categorizing as an office. "Have a seat," he said as he pointed to an uncomfortable-looking plastic chair.

Against her better judgement, Rey sat down. It was like sitting on a rock, which made her squirm. She had to make sure that she was focused on Poe instead of the sensation of sitting in a chair manufactured in hell. Poe sat across from her in a rolling chair with a padded cushion. Rey wanted to rip it out from beneath him and claim it for herself.

"So, I can see that we need some more training," he said as he folded his hands on his desk.

"Yes. Training would be good," she replied, happy that it didn't seem like he was firing her. 

"I'm a little surprised that you need it, actually. You said that you had experience in coffeehouses before this."

Rey rubbed her palms over her black yoga pants that had never seen a yoga class in their life. "Yeah, well, I meant more along the lines of having gone into them rather than having worked in one."

Poe steepled his hands and rested the tip of his nose against his fingers. It was one of the grossest poses that Rey had ever seen anyone strike. "I see," he said. 

"But I've worked on registers before." Which was true. "And I'm also a fast learner." Which was a _total_ lie. 

"I tell you what, I'm going to have you shadow Ben for the rest of the day so that you can get familiar with the orders. Then tomorrow, I'll have someone show you how to make them." 

"Great," she said with a smile that was genuine for the first time that day. "I won't let you down." But in reality she probably would, but she'd do her best to do a good job.

"That's good to hear. I'll walk you out and tell Ben the plan."

Rey nodded and hurriedly rose from the abominable chair. Following, Poe, she tried to focus on not walking too closely behind him. People got agitated when she usually did that to them. 

"Ben," Poe said when they got back to the front counter. "Rey is going to shadow you for the rest of your shift to get more comfortable with our menu. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure," Ben replied as he handed the change back to an elderly man. 

"Great. Good luck, Rey," Poe said before disappearing into the back once more. 

Rey leaned against the counter and looked at Ben since she'd only been able to shoot cursory glances at him before then. He was so cute. Tall, dark-haired, and broad. Though Rey was a bad judge of height at only five-seven herself. But Ben seemed really big in ever way possible. And he looked to be in hid mid-to-late twenties, which would put him somewhere around her age. 

"You're _really_ hot," she blurted out.

Ben looked over at her. "Thanks," he said casually. "You are too. I-I mean, you--you are nice looking too."

Ben looked down at her. The best descriptor she could come up with was curvy. She was thin, but her books had started growing when she was eleven and never seemed to stop, which made her look a little heavier than she actually was.

Not that she cared. It usually led to people being pleasantly surprised when they saw her naked. She decided right then and there that she wouldn't mind Ben seeing her naked. 

"So, do you have a girlfriend?"

Ben rang up another customer and called out the order over his shoulder. "Nope."

"Boyfriend?"

"Nope."

Rey thought absently how she could be paying more attention to what Ben was doing instead of how he looked, but looking at him was far more fascinating, especially now that was this close to her. 

"So, what about you?" he asked.

She was startled by his question, mostly because she'd started to mentally categorize him as more of a fantasy than an actual human being than therefore hadn't expected him to ask her questions. "What about me? What?"

"Boyfriend? Or Girlfriend?"

She hunched forward, dropping her arms onto the counter and resting on them. "Neither." 

"Well, do you have a preference between the two?" he asked.

"Right now, my preference is decidedly _all_ male." 

That earned her a small smile as he worked. Just then, Poe came out of the back and looked over them. "Maybe you should pay more attention to what I'm doing, and we can talk more about your preferences later," Ben whispered. 

Rey released a long sigh. "Well, if we must," she said before she straightened up and tried her best not to press her boobs into Ben while he worked. 


	2. Chapter 2

"So he just left it like that? And you didn't even make a concerted effort to strip down butt-ass naked and demand that he bang you like a prized-stud horse?"

Rey moved her cell phone to her other ear as her best friend, Rose, berated her for the missed opportunity. As if she hadn't been angry enough at herself for it. Ben's shift had ended before hers, and he'd said a soft "Goodbye" before hurrying out the door. The only consolation she had was that Poe had asked Ben with helping her gain the next day.

"You know something, Rose, as appealing as that image is to me, my manage was watching me like a fucking hawk, and he's not my first choice for a threesome, okay?" Rey dumped spaghetti into a pot of water and turned on the burner. "But there's always tomorrow, I suppose."

"Yeah. You better have a super-hot story to tell me tomorrow."

"I'll certainly do my best to live up to your high-standards, Rose."

"Hey, at least you still have a job. The manager could've fired you, and then you'd have lost the opportunity to have what I'm imaging to be a life-changing orgasm."

"Please, do tell me why you're imagining _my_ orgasm?"

Rose sighed. "Because you know me. I live a very sad life. So what's he look like? I need more specific details."

"What, you mean my manager?"

"No. The guy you're seducing." 

"Well, I don't know if that counts as a seduction as much as a proposition." 

"The end result is the same, really," Rose argued.

"This is true. And I told you already that he's super hot. Probably around six-foot three, shaggy black hair, wide like a football player, symmetrical soft-brown eyes."

"He sounds amazing in bed. Or on a table. Or maybe up against the wall. Whatever surface is closest." 

"You're nuts, you know that?" Rey replied as she poured sauce into another pot that she had one the stove.

"I'm well aware. You working at the bar tonight?"

"Nah, I'm off because it was my first day at the coffeehouse, and I figured that I'd be tired. 

Rey had been working at Star-Killer's Bar for four years. She'd wandered in there after being fired from a clothing store nearby and had been hired after she'd broken up an almost bar fight by screaming. _Can you assholes move so I can get a damn drink?_ Apparently being yelled at by a tiny white girl was somehow endearing. 

It was one of the few places where people seemed to like her as she was, and that made her love the place.

"You feel like grabbing dinner?" Rose asked.

"I already started making something. Maybe another night." 

"You're actually cooking?"

Rey went over to the refrigerator and took out the bottle of ketchup. "Yes, I'm cooking. Why is that such a surprise to you?"

"Because you can't cook." 

Sighing, Rey replied, "Everyone can cook, Rose. I just don't normally have the time to do it, but, since I didn't have to work tonight at the bar, I figured I'd surprise the shit out of myself and go for it."

"What are you making?"

Rey was confused but thankful that Rose didn't continue arguing with her. "Spaghetti."

"Okay, wait, what was that noise that I just heard?"

"What noise?"

"Uh, that one! The one that sounds like you're squeezing a bottle."

Rey looked down at the ketchup bottle in her hands. "It's a bottle."

"Of what?" Rose asked, her voice getting louder and louder. 

"It's just ketchup."

"Oh my fucking God, Rose, are you putting ketchup on the fucking spaghetti?!"

Rey then scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, Rose. I know I'm a bad cook and all but I'm not that fucking dense, okay, even if _you_ think I am at times."

"Whew, well that's a sign of relief."

"I'm just adding it to the sauce, is all." Rose was silent for a moment, prompting Rey to look down at her phone to see if they'd been suddenly disconnected. It wouldn't have been the first time that it happened. "Why aren't you talking?"

"Because I don't know what to say next."

"Okay. Do you want to call me back when you figure it out?" Rey offered.

"Just out of common curiosity, why are you putting ketchup in your sauce?" Rose asked, evidently having suddenly found her words.

"Because I didn't have enough sauce left, so i figured since they're both made from tomatoes, I could just combine them together."

"Oh yeah, and how is that working out for you?"

"The consistency is a little weird. I think I need to add some water." Rey then walked over to the sink and filled a cup. 

"Please, don't, please, for me." Rey then poured the cup into the sauce and began stirring. Rose wasted no time in showing her displeasure over the whole thing. "You did it, didn't you?" Rose asked.

"Yep, I sure as hell did. It actually looks better." 

Rey then heard her front door unlock before it opened and closed. When she heard feet scuffle into the kitchen she turned. "Hi, Jyn."

"Ugh, is that crazy psycho bitch home?" Rose groaned through the phone. 

Rey ignored the question and watched as her roommate, Jyn, walked straight to the refrigerator, flicking her long brown hair over her shoulder as she went on about her business. 

"I'm making spaghetti if you want some," Rey offered. 

Jyn peered into the fridge but must not have found anything worthwhile, because she immediately came over to Rey and glanced down into the pot and jumped back in a state of fright. "What the hell is that shit? It looks like blood." 

Rey rolled her eyes and then looked down into her sauce. "Oh, damn, you guess the secret ingredient." 

Jyn stared at her. "See. You see, this is the shit that freaks me out. You're kidding me, right? You _really_ expect me to eat this?"

Rey just shrugged her shoulders. If her roommate couldn't tell, why on earth should Rey? After all, dry-sarcasm was something she was born with, it couldn't just magically disappear overnight, much to Jyn's desperate pleas or for anyone's pleas for that matter. Besides, life was more fun when you weren't so uptight and stuck up your boyfriend's asshole twenty-four seven like Jyn seemed to be these days.

"I'm literally so over this crazy shit," Jyn muttered. She started to walk out of the kitchen before adding. "Oh, and by the way, I'm moving out."

Rey's head snapped around in time to see a smirk on Jyn's lips. "When?" Rey asked.

"Tomorrow, though, I wish it was much sooner, trust me," Jyn said in a sing-song voice that made Rey want to force-feed her an apple that would put her to sleep indefinitely. And with that, she stomped down the short hall and slammed her bedroom door. 

"Well, she was rather pleasant as usual," Rose said. "What'd she last? Two months?"

"Three," Rey replied as she stirred the spaghetti that looked wilted, but not in the way it was supposed to."

"Well, that's almost a world record."

It was. The longest roommate Rey ever had was Jannah at five months, and she'd only lasted as long as she did because she'd spent two of them hooked on a keyboard duster and then the remaining three in rehab. Needless to say, it was evident that Rey's choice in roommates weren't exactly top-grade.

"Maybe I should look for a male roommate next time. I get along great with all the guy's over at Star-Killer's." 

Rose just laughed. "Well, that's because you're hot, and they mistake your dry sarcasm for flirting."

"Are you hitting on me, Rose Angela Tico?"

"Jesus Christ, child. Throw that shitty dinner in the trash and meet me down at Hoth's in half an hour. I don't want to give that asshole Jyn the satisfaction of finding you dead from food poisonings." 

Rey then turned off the stove and carried her sauce to the trash can. "Fine. If you insist." 


	3. Chapter 3

Ben felt as though he was in perpetual situation. He ran from one job to the next, and then home to sleep, only to wake up and do it all over again. As he raced down the street, he allowed himself to wallow in the misery that was his so called "little" life. This wasn't the life that he was meant to be living. 

But yet, here he was, dealing with two jobs, one shitter than the next, just so that he could keep a roof over his head. A roof that was being ripped away in a week. A week.

How the fuck was he going to find a new place to live in a week? This was the problem with moving in with someone he met on Craigslist. There was a very real chance the roommate was using Ben's rent money for PCP or prostitutes. 

The worst part of it all was that Ben should've known better. He should've insisted on being added on to the lease and paying his share to the landlord directly. Instead, he'd allowed himself to be nothing more than a squatter in the dingy apartment of a pathological liar. Ben threw open the door to Coffee Delights with more force than was necessary. He scanned the store, thankful for once that it was mostly empty of customers.

Then he looked behind the counter, and he was even more thankful. Rey was standing there tying the strings of her black apron around her small waist. It actually would've been difficult to tell just how thing she was if it weren't for the small pieces of fabric that cinched her shirt under her chest.

Yesterday, Ben had to force himself not to be a total pervert and stare at her all day. A terrific body, her wavy dark auburn hair that fell over her shoulders, her light hazel eyes, that smattering of freckles on her nose. She was absolutely beautiful.

That fact that seemed so to have almost no filter was also _very_ attractive. Ben had learned the hard way over the past few years that people rarely said what they meant or were honest about their intentions.

In Ben's world, though, Rey Kenobi was a welcome anomaly. He liked her. Like _really_ liked her, which was unusual for him. He didn't like _anybody._

"Hey there, hotness," she shamelessly called out to him when she saw him.

He felt heat prick his face and couldn't help the shy smile that quirked his lips. Giving her a small wave, he dipped into the back to clock in and grab an apron. When he came back out to the front, tying his apron as he walked, he approached Rey. 

"You ready?" he asked.

"For...?"

He barked out a laugh, and damn did it feel good for once. He didn't laugh nearly enough anymore these days. She was good to have around in a rather sticky spot. "To learn how to make these drinks."

A look of disappointment crossed her features. "Oh. That's not nearly as fun as what I was originally thinking."

"I bet it wasn't." He shook his head at her brazenness even though he secretly liked it. No, _not_ like, he _loved_ it. Absolutely _fucking_ loved it.

He showed her where the recipe book was that she could reference if she ever got stuck on a order. The he explained the most common orders that the customers usually ordered and a few variations of each. After all, he was here to help---her beauty, her quirks, her random callouts of filtration were just a plus. 

"How the hell does anyone remember all of this?" she asked him, her eyes wide.

Ben shrugged. "It's just repetition. Most of these get ordered multiple times a day by different customers, so it becomes second nature after a while. And the rare ones you can just look up if you ever get stuck."

"I honestly don't think my brain has room for all of this. I've been a bartender for four years, and I still don't remember how to make most of the drinks. I just throw whatever in a glass and people know better than to complain to me about it."

He smiled again. "What happens if they complain to you?"

"I throw their ass out."

Eyebrows shooting upwards, Ben said. " _You_ actually throw people out of the bar?"

She widened her stance and put a hand on her hip. "What does that mean?"

"Can we just pretend that I never said that?"

Rey seemed to mull that one over before dropping her arm, smiling in his direction. "Sure, we can."

Ben was dumbstruck for a second. "Wait. Really? Just like that?"

Rey leaned a hip against the counter. "Yeah. Don't worry, I say shit that I shouldn't all the time, so it'd be hypocritical of me to hold someone else accountable for the stupid, reckless, dumb-fuck shit things that they tend to blurt out."

Ben though there was a personal insult in there somewhere, but he didn't dwell on it. "Oh. Great. Thanks."

Rey nodded. "So, let's talk about more interesting things?"

"Like what?"

"Like you, silly." Rey giggled. 

Trying to keep his face as blank as possible so that she wouldn't pick up on just how much he _didn't_ want to talk about himself, he asked. "Well, what do you want to know?"

She tapped her finger against her chin a few beats before answering. "Do you prefer boxers or briefs?"

He just rolled his eyes with a chuckle. When he saw her eyes alight with mischief, he decided that she was teasing him and didn't answer her question. 

"Okay, okay, fine, a real question," she said. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-nine." he answered.

"I'm twenty-two. I could be your sugar mama," she joked.

At least he thought she was joking when said that. "Wouldn't be a hard position to qualify for," he said in an attempt to tease her back. "Except... _.I_ am older than you, so...nice try, sweetheart. But I guess that means I could be _your_ sugar daddy."

But her face grew serious, making it plain that he'd somehow missed the mark. She looked pensive as she studied him. "And what qualifications would someone need? In case I find someone interested applying."

Ben laughed again, but it was humorless this time. "Right now, I'd settle for having a good couch that I could crash on." 

He wasn't exactly sure why he was being so honest. He didn't need anyone knowing about his personal shit. But part of him wanted to get it off his chest, throw it out into the universe so he didn't have to carry it all on his own. Which was stupid, but he couldn't take it back now.

Rey's eyes grew wide as she bounced on her toes a little "Oh my God, do you need a place to live? Say yes. Please, please, please say that you're homeless, that you're broke and can't afford rent, that you're literally living out on the streets!"

Ben had never seen someone so excited by the prospect of his homelessness situation. Even his own parents hadn't seemed to take any actual joy in it, and they'd caused it in the first place. He busied himself with restocking the cups as he answered. "Not yet, I'm not. But in about a week I will be if I don't find something soon. But don't worry about me. I always land on my feet."

Rey grinned widely. "Well, it actually seems like you've all but landed right in my lap, Solo."

Ben wasn't sure what that meant, but it sounded both dirty and very promising. A grin slowly began to form across his face at the prospect of possibly living in the same apartment as Rey Kenobi. This was going to be one hell of a ride. 

* * *

Rey couldn't believe her luck. Jyn's dad had shown up at the crack of dawn that morning to help her move out. Luckily, most of the furniture was Rey's, since she was the constant in the apartment. Her roommates were the revolving door. 

Jyn threw her things into black garbage bags and she and her dad carted them out and down the three flights of stairs without saying much of anything to Rey. Rey had nearly had to tackle Jyn to get the key to the apartment back. A key she'd shoved into her pocket and fingered now as she gazed excitedly at Ben.

"Do I even want to know what that means?" Ben asked.

"I sure hope so." She clapped her hands together. "This is so amazing. I'm really going to get to be sugar mama, after all, well....sort of. Though not really, because you'll still need to pay rent. It's pretty cheap, though. Four hundred and fifty a month. You're not going to find a better deal than that. So, what do you say, handsome?"

Ben's eyes narrowed. "Say to what?"

"Moving in with me, silly! My roommate moved out this morning, so you could move in immediately if you want. She already paid for September, so you wouldn't even need to pay until October."

"You really want me to move in with you?" he asked. He sounded so confused, which she couldn't understand why. She thought she was being pretty damn clear. 

"Yes! I think it'll be perfect! I was just telling my best friend Rose how I should find a male roommate because the girls never last long. And now here you are. It's like fate or something."

"So, why do all the girls not last?"

Uh-oh. This was exactly the kind of situation where Rey needed to slow down and think before she spoke. But she didn't. "Well, because I can be a little....much, sometimes."

Ben's eyes suddenly flashed with unease at these words. What on earth did she mean "a little much....sometimes," because that sounded a bit alarming, even for him. If she was miss crazy-pants, he didn't think he could handle this. He had his fair share of crazy in the past and he wasn't sure if he was ready for another round.

"But not like, serial-killer much," Rey added in a hurry. "I'm not hiding bodies in the floorboards or anything like that, but I am a tad eccentric. It becomes endearing after a while. You can ask my friend , Rose." 

Rose had recommended Rey refer to herself as eccentric instead of saying that she was "bat-shit crazy," which was usually _very_ off-putting to most people who met her. _Go figure._ Normally, after while people would see this behavior and run for this hills.

Rey couldn't really blame them, honestly. She was different. Very different and there were things about her, her past, that she hadn't been willing to share with others and her roommates were a prime example of that. They didn't need to know what all went on in her life, it was none of their fucking business as far as she was concerned.

They were roommates, that didn't mean they had to be best friends or anything. Each had their own personal space, each paid their part for the rent, each did whatever the hell they wanted as long as they abided by the rules that had been set by themselves and their landlord---and that was enough for her.

Three female roommates gone in less than a year. Rey immediately began to feel like a lot of it was her own fault. She hoped that with Ben moving in with her, the bad-luck would finally be at an abrupt end.

The curse would _finally_ be lifted. 

She eyed Ben anxiously as he seemed to to be thinking over his options. Finally, he said, "So I could move in immediately, huh?"

Trying to tamp down the sudden flare of hope, she kept her voice even. "Yep, you sure can."

Ben thought for another moment before extending his hand in her direction. "Well then, Miss Kenobi, I think it's safe to say that you got yourself a new roommate."

"Yay," she said as she ignored his hand and fully jumped into his arms for a massive hug. "Thank you, Ben. Thank you so much. I promise you here and now, you won't regret a thing." 

"I have a feeling that my life is about to get very interesting," he mumbled against her cheek, feeling a sensation of happiness overcoming him at her warmth. 

She squeezed him even tighter. "Probably true. But I promise that it's in all the best ways you could imagine."

"I'll definitely hold you to that, Kenobi."

"I certainly hope that you do, Solo. I certainly hope....you do." said Rey, grinning against him. The idea of Ben Solo, her co-worker living under the same roof as her made her giddy all over. Yeah, this was going to be a _very_ good thing. 


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey," Ben said after letting himself into the apartment and walking towards Rey and Rose who were sitting on Rey's couch. "Thanks for this. Really, I greatly appreciate it."

"No problem," Rey said. When he'd texted to say that he was downstairs, she'd unlocked the door and typed for him to come on in. 

"Who is that?" Rose whispered as she watched Ben carry in a large box to his new bedroom. 

He wore a fitted gray sleeveless shirt that showed off his biceps---and his pecs, Rey was certain, if he'd just put the damn box down. A few seconds later, he emerged from his bedroom, his arms hanging loosely at his sides---which only allowed her to confirm her hypothesis about his chest---as he headed for the door to grab yet another box.

"Oh. That was Ben. He's moving in with me."

"You didn't tell me that." Rose said it as though Rey had wronged her in some way.

"What are you talking about, Rose? I just told you."

Rose rolled her dark eyes. "Is that, like, _The_ Ben Solo you were talking about the other day to me on the phone?"

"Um, are there any other Bens that I'm not aware of?" Rey said flatly.

Her comment earned her an elbow to her side from Rose. "Shut up, girl! He's like....super-duper fucking hot! You were seriously going to keep this a secret from me?! You should be utterly ashamed of yourself!"

"I am. But not for that. I have other transgressions that I'd rather not discuss right now."

Rose narrowed her eyes at Rey like she wasn't sure whether there was truth to Rey's comment. Then her gaze darted back to Ben as he made another trip into his new room with a small flat-screen TV and a few other small bags which looked like were filled with shoes, some socks and maybe some underwear. 

When he came out again, he flipped the white baseball cap he was wearing backwards. The action itself was hot, and it served to give a clearer view of his handsome face, which Rey noticed had a gleam of sweat on it. 

His shirt was also damp, and when he brought the bottom up to wipe his face, Rey's gaze went to his abs. She was sure Rey's had gone there, too, though her best friend no doubt made more of an effort to hide it than she had. 

"Do you need some help?" Rey asked. "The three-story walk-up is no joke in this summer heat."

"Yeah." Ben said. "That's be great! You sure you don't mind?"

"Oh. You meant you wanted _us_ to help. I meant more like calling some of your friends over or something like that. But yeah, we can give you a hand, right, Rose?"

Rose looked as if Rey had volunteered her to participate in the damn Hunger Games. "Nah, I'll let you two have at it. I'm just enjoying the view too much to trade it all in for hard labor."

Rey shrugged, not entirely bothered by the idea of spending some time alone with Ben while sweat glistened on his ripped muscles. "Suit yourself."

Ben laughed softly before brining a bottle of water up to his mouth and taking a long drink. The way his throat moved as he swallowed did all sorts of things to Rey that made her wondered when Poland Spring had become an aphrodisiac. When he screwed the cap on and set it back down on the countertop, his gaze seemed to catch on the tile.

She wasn't sure if it was the fact that it was only three-quarters finished or the theme that had caught his immediate attention. He didn't comment on it, and Rey wondered if nothing about her could surprise him.

"Thanks. I had two buddies who said they'd come and help me out, but one's too hungover and the other's running a bit late. He should get here soon though, so no worries if you don't want to help. We'll get it done."

"Well, is he as sexy as you are?"

"Rey," Rose scolded. "You know how I like to be surprised." Rose turned to Rey. "Just ignore her. She has a big mouth."

"You of all people don't need to explain to him, how I am," Rey said. "He already knows, and he's fine with it. Right, Ben?"

Ben's dark eyes had darted between the two women, but they settled back on Rey, the corner of his mouth rising in amusement. "Yep, it's all good. I've accepted every bit of Rey's quirkiness and I'm totally okay with it."

"Good, then my question still stands."

It seemed to take Ben a moment to even remember what they question had even been, but he didn't seem to mind answering once he did. "Yeah, uh, he's good-looking, I guess. I mean I'm not gay or anything, so my personal opinion might not be the most accurate one, but---"

"Bullshit," Rey interrupted. "I hate it when guys pretend they don't know if other guys are hot or not. Women can tell if other women are not, and they have no problem stating it out loud."

Rey then looked to Rose, running her eyes over her best friend's body. Rose squirmed in her seat at the appraisal, but that did nothing to deter Rey sharing her judgement. "Rose's a seven. An eight and a half when she actually puts on make up and smiles."

Rose punch her friend hard in the arm, but Rey had already prepared herself for what was coming and had pulled back in anticipation of the blow so that it barely grazed her. "I'm wearing makeup now, bitch," Rose said. 

"Oh. Then she's a six. Seven and a half at best." She laughed at Rose's huff, but Rey knew she wasn't actually annoyed. 

Rose was beautiful, more beautiful than Rey, at least in Rey's opinions, and she'd told her friend than more times than she could remember. But she coudn't resist tormenting Rose whenever she got the chance. Especially since Rose never really seemed to mind.

"What do you think, Ben?"

"Um....I don't....uh, can we go back to elevauting Finn?"

"His name's Finn?" Rey asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"It drops him down at least half a point," she answered. "Finn's not a hot name."

"Agreed," Rose said. 

"Finn's a perfectly normal name," Ben said in defense of his friend. "What's the matter with it?" 

"That's because it's one of the chipmunks." Rey countered. 

"Oh, and that old English guy who used to be on that show, American Idol."

"Yes." Rey said. "This game's fun. Let me think....."

Rey wondered if Ben would join in, but he seemed too busy trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with them to actually take part in the game---all of which, he found a bit offensive to be honest. So we're going to judge each other now based on our names, huh? That's a bit rude and uncalled for.

"Oh, I got another one!" Rose said. "Finn's the name of Jannah's boyfriend. Although, I guess they aren't together anymore, so he's not technically her boyfriend." 

This time Rey looked as confused as Ben did. "Who the hell are you talking about?" she asked.

"Your old roommate, Jannah." she said as if repeating the name would cause Rey and Ben to recall a person they didn't know about. "Oh come on, Rey, you lived with the bitch for three months. Surely, she talked about her boyfriend, Finn."

Rey raised her eyebrows. "Still don't know who you're talking abut, but now I'm intrigued." 

"So Finn--my friend, Finn was her boyfriend?" Ben asked.

"No. This is someone else, I think." 

"I don't...." Ben narrowed his eyes as he seemingly tried to figure out what Rose was talking about. "Well, would he be hotter if he was the guy you're apparently talking about?"

"That," Rey said, pointing at Ben. "is an excellent question. Damn, I should've asked Jannah when she was living here!"

"No, you shouldn't because Jannah was a slutty asshole, and anyone who willingly associates with her must therefore also be a slutty asshole. She thinks she's hot shit, and she's annoying and fake. Just like Jyn was." She crossed her arms like her explanation had made all the sense in the world. "It's practically the law of transference."

"Yeah, I don't even know what that is," Ben said.

"Me either," Rey agreed. "I lost you at "slutty asshole."

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the open door, and a man with dark skin stepped inside carrying a large box. "Oh, hello there, I'm not sure what I'm walking into here, but I'm assuming that I have the right place." He looked over at Ben, who was laughing hysterically.

Rose huffed. "Never kind. My theory's blown anyway. He's hot." She thrust an arm in Finn's direction as if the realization disappointed her. 

"Hi," Finn said, shifting the box to one arm so that he could extend the other as he headed to the couch to greet Rose and Rey. It made the muscles in his left arm even more defined and they already were. "I'm Finn."

"Yeah, we know," Rey said, giving his hand a gentle shake.

"That's Rey, and I'm Rose." Rose's words sounded almost like a song, and it made Rey role her eyes. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Rose." Then he added. "Like the pizza, right?" as if the connection with the frozen meal would somehow made it more likely that he'd remember her name. 

Rey didn't think Finn had meant the comment as an insult. The opposite actually. He didn't seem like the sharpest told in the shed and struck her as the type who probably enjoyed a frozen pizza from time to time. He'd probably meant it as a compliment.

"Um....yeah, I guess," Rose said, causing Finn to smile and reveal two dimples.

On Rose's suggestion, she and Rey heated up some popcorn and watched the guys carry some furniture and a few more boxes up for the next half hour or so. When they were just about done, Finn wiped the sweat from his brown with the top of his shirt. 

"I'm such an awful hostess," Rey said. "I really should've offered you some lemonade or something." 

"Thanks. Some ice-cold lemonade would be great," Finn replied.

"Oh. I actually don't have any," Rey clarified. "It was more of an expression, really."

"Offering lemonade to someone is your idea of an expression?" Finn asked.

"Well, maybe 'expression' wasn't exactly the right word. I meant..." Rey sighed, unable to explain herself properly. "I have cold drinks in the fridge. I'm more than happy to offer you one, but it's not lemonade, I'm afraid."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, anything's fine," Finn answered.

Rey got up and headed into the kitchen. "Okay, I've got water....from the tap, of course, because who willingly pays for something they can get for free, right?" Rey asked though she didn't really expect a reply back. "And I think we have a few beers left over."

She then opened the fridge, she began rummaging around for anything cold that she could give Finn to drink. Her choice of options were regrettably.....low.

"Yeah, some beer and some kind of V8 drink old roommate left in there. But I'm pretty sure only whack-jobs drink vegetables, so I'm sure you don't want any of that."

"Um, no, probably not. I'll just take a beer for the road if you have one."

Rey wondered if Finn actually planned to drink his beer _while_ driving, but she decided she'd rather not know. Instead, she pulled out four beers and passed one to each of them in tow. _Well, there's no turning back now_ , she guessed as she watched as they popped off their caps. 

"To my adventures with my new roommate," Ben said, raising his bottle for the others to follow.

"I think you mean more like misadventures," Rose said. 

Rey held hers up again as she smiled up at Ben. "Okay, then. Here's to many misadventures with my new roommate, Ben Solo."

She then clinked bottles with the other three, thinking that was definitely a toast she could get completely on board with. _Here we go, Solo, time to make the most of whatever the hell we're about to get ourselves into, which, I have a feeling is going to be.....a lot._

* * *

Ben finished unpacking the last of his clothes and made his way back out to the small living room. If it could even be called that. The space looked more like a strange antique shop you might find in some sort of coastal town.

Strange trinkets, like an elephant made out of blue glass and an old rotary phone....which he was certain didn't work since it wasn't plugged into the wall---were lined up neatly on some of the wooden shelves along the perimeter of the room. He was thankful he'd warned Finn before he'd come over not to comment on anything.

By Rey's own admission, she was a bit strange, and Ben didn't know what they'd be walking into that morning when he moved his stuff in.

But as he took the time to look at what would now be considered his home, he realized how accurate his prediction had been. The space was a hodgepodge of eclectic furniture: two mustard-yellow pleather-covered barstools in the dining area, a worn-out couch that looked like it'd been upholstered with red-and-black shirts from a lumberjack's closet, and an assortment of small, mismatched tables that were sprinkled around without--in Ben's opinion--much of a purpose.

Most of them were completely bare, except for a few empty soda cans which appeared to have been discarded there while Rey had been passing through the space. 

Why she hadn't even bothered to walk the additional seven or so steps to the kitchen to throw them out would probably remain one of them many mysteries about the woman. Another mystery was why she'd chosen to retile part of the kitchen counter. Herself.

He'd assumed she'd done it herself anyway. Ben couldn't imagine that would've had the money to hire someone to do it, nor did he think a professional would have done work that looked like what was in front of him. He'd first noticed the odd choice in tile earlier in the day when he was talking to Rey and Rose but had decided not to ask Rey why she'd chosen to decorate the place where people ate with tiles depicting silhouettes of people posing in various Kama Sutra positions.

The fact that he found himself hoping she planned to finish the remaining few square feet alarmed him slightly. 

As someone whose passion consisted of portraying scenes and people in the most beautiful way possible, Ben found himself almost confused by his new environment. No lighting or camera angle could make this setting pleasing to the human eye. At least, he didn't think so.

The walls of the entire apartment, including his new bedroom, were painted a pale coral, which only made the apartment that much more aesthetically unappealing. It didn't strike him as a place someone would necessarily want to live.

But here he was, about to do just that with a semi-stranger. He picked up his camera from the coffee table and snapped a few pictures of the strange décor. He wasn't sure why he wanted to document a place he wasn't sure he even wanted to be, but there he was.

After taking a close-up of the tiles, Ben put his camera down. "Fuck," he breathed out as he ran a hand through his dark mane of hair. "What the hell am I doing here?"

"I don't know." a voice said dryly from behind him. "Talking to yourself, I guess."

"Shit," Ben said with a jolt as he spun around to see Rey, who was now wearing some sort of top that barely came below her breasts. "I didn't realize you were still here."

"That's what made me say you were talking to yourself."

"Yeah....um....I'm just a little overwhelmed at the moment. It'll pass once I get used to the place."

He thought he saw a hint of a smile, but it almost seemed like she'd decided not to follow through with it. "I tend to have that effect on people."

Ben chose to ignore her comment, which left them looking at one another in complete awkward silence. This was not how he wanted his first night in a his new apartment, with his new roommate to go. _Shit, what have I just done,_ he thought to himself as they continued to stay rooted to the spot, saying nothing. 

"So, what were you taking pictures of?" she finally asked.

Ben looked over at his camera as if it was going to answer for him. "Oh, uh, nothing really. It's just something I do in my spare time. Take pictures of random stuff, I mean. I'm a photographer on the side." Which was a really stupid thing to explain because he'd already told her about his other job one day at the coffee shop.

She took a step forward. "Can I see?"

"Um..." Ben hesitated. While people obviously saw the pictures that he took fir work at the portrait studio, he hadn't shown anyone his person photos in a very long time. 

But unsure of how to refuse, Ben picked up his camera and turned it back on before handing it to her so she could see the screen. He watched her click through the photos, mostly candidates he'd taken as he wandered around the city. She was silent as she scrolled, which made him feel slightly anxious.

After a few minutes, she lowered the camera. "Ben, these are incredible!"

Ben shrugged. "They're okay, I guess. I could do better if I concentrated more, but I mostly just take them for fun."

"Well, I think they're pretty damn good."

"Thank you." He felt a blush creeping up his neck, so he changed the subject by asking her what she'd been up to the past few hours because he hadn't heard her in a while.

"Sleeping," she said simply. "But Guy and Baby woke me up."

"Who?" Ben wasn't sure he even wanted to know who Rey was talking about, but eh found himself asking anyway. 

She gestured towards her room with a nod. "The next door neighbors on that side of the apartment. They only know how to do two things---fight and fuck," she explained. 

"And their names are Baby and Guy?"

"No. I don't know what their real names are. The guy's always calling the girl baby, and she never says his name at all. And since I don't care enough to ask them, I guess I'll never know."

Ben laughed. "Oh. So what is it this time?"

"What is what?" Rey asked, confused.

"What are they doing? Fighting or fucking?"

"Oh. They're fighting. Or they were when I came out, but sometimes one leads to the other, so who the hell knows what they're up to now."

"Interesting," Ben said with a rather amused smile. "Guess it's good my room's on the other side oft he apartment then."

Rey shrugged. "Depends on which you prefer. I'm pretty sure your dude's birth records are written on parchment paper with a quill somewhere. He watches reruns of _MacGyver_ at a decibel level that would rival most military-grade helicopters."

"Shit," Ben said. "I think I'd prefer your couple. I feel like there's a level of entertainment to them that I won't get with Richard Dean Anderson."

"Probably. Sometimes when Baby gets exceptionally emotional, she starts yelling at him in another language. I don't even think he understands what she's saying," Rey told him with a smile. "You want to come and listen?"

"What you mean to Guy and Baby?" Ben raised an eyebrow. "Fuck yeah, I do. Do you ever bang on the wall or tell them to shut up or anything?" he asked as they walked down the short gall to Rey's room.

"I did when I first moved in, but it only seems to encourage them to be that much louder. Now, I usually just put on headphones or something if it's in the middle of the night."

Ben nodded, thinking that he needed to make sure he looked for his earbuds. He didn't remember unpacking them, and he had a bad habit of constantly losing them. "You weren't kidding. They really are loud," he said just as soon as he was in Rey's bedroom. 

Even with her door shut, he hadn't even heard them. But now that there was only a thing piece of drywall between him and the Odd Couple, he had no trouble hearing ever word that was spoken--or yelled in this case.

_"Because that's the jelly that I like, that's why!" yelled a female voice. "You'll eat the grape! I won't. So stick to that instead of using all of mine!"_

_"Come on, baby. You're making a big deal out of nothing."_

_"Am I?" she spat. "Speaking of nothing, that's what I'll be having for breakfast tomorrow now that I don't have anything to put on my English muffin!"_

Ben stood there, puzzled. "They're really fighting about jelly?"

"Not when I left, they weren't. Guy was telling her he was going bowling with the guys."

"So Guy as guys?" Ben asked, amused with his own personal joke.

"I guess so. Baby said he was just out last night and she wanted to spend some time together. I think that's why she starts the fights to begin with. Like she's looking for a way to interact with him or something."

"That's....insightful," Ben said before adding. "but also a little disturbing. Isn't that what little kids do? Like when toddlers throw tantrums?"

"I wouldn't really know. I'm not much of a kid person." 

* * *

Ben had the sudden urge to ask her what she meant exactly, but it occurred to him that it wasn't his damn business. Rey seemed like a very private person, and Ben didn't want to pry where he wasn't wanted.

Rey's eyes remained on the wall, and Ben noticed that her room was the only one in the apartment that wasn't painted a mutual coral. Three walls were a pale blue, but the one they were currently looking at was white. 

Or had been at one time, Now it was more a dark eggshell that been marred with scratches and stray smudges. From what, Ben wasn't sure. He wondered why she'd chosen to leave that wall so plain when the rest of the apartment was in such sharp contrast to it. And though he didn't know for sure that she'd even been the one to choose the colors, something told him she was.

The two of them stayed silent for a few minutes as they stared at the scarred wall, watching a show that neither of them could see.

"What do you want me to do," Guy asked. "I'll stop on the way home and get more strawberry jelly if that's what you want. But there's still some in here in the cabinets. Look."

There was a lull in the conversation before Baby spoke again. "Jesus, this isn't about the jelly." The sound of glass shattering made both Rey and Ben jolt in response, but neither of them looked at one another.

"Maybe his name's Jesus," Ben said, turning his head toward Rey.

She returned his stare, tearing her gaze from the wall to look over at him. "What?"

"I meant Guy's real name," he said. "Baby always calls him "Jesus.'"

"She didn't _call_ him Jesus. She was using it as an expletive," Rey argued. 

"But do you know that for sure?" Ben asked, knowing that his suggestion was a rather ridiculous one at that. 

Rey just rolled her eyes. "I'm like ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure that people with that name don't pronounce it with the hard _J_."

"Well, there are like seven billion people in the world, so if one-tenth of a percent of them pronounce it that way, that's like---" Ben pause as he tried to do the math in his head, but that only resulted in Rey looking more amused, and this time it was at his expense---"I don't know, like millions of people or something. There are probably hard _J_ because everywhere that we haven't heard of."

"Jesuses?" Rey repeated.

"Yeah. Jesuses. What do you think the plural would be? Like Jesi or something?"

Rey shook her head at him. "You might be even weirder than I am, and that makes me so much more confident than this new living arrangement is going to work out just fine." Without waiting for a reply she headed back out the door, leaving Ben in her room alone to wonder just how weird his new roommate actually was. 


	5. Chapter 5

"We should probably talk about the rent," Ben said.

"What about it?" Rey asked. When she'd offered him the room a few days ago, she'd told Ben how much it would be, and he'd happily agreed, especially since he wouldn't have to pay until the following month.

He said it as less than he'd been paying over at his old place, and since he didn't have any other options, he didn't try to negotiate the price with her. 

"If you were thinking of paying me in sexual favors instead of cash, then you should know that I'm broke. So as much as I'd like agree to those terms, my bank account won't let me, I'm afraid."

Ben chuckled, taking a seat next to her on the plaid couch. He rubbed his hands over his thighs like he wasn't sure he wanted to say whatever he'd been thinking.

"Ben, please, don't tell me that the rent's too much for you now that you've already moved in. As much as I do love your body, I have no problem inflicting some serious injuries to it if I need to."

"No. No," Ben said. "The rent's perfectly fine. But I wanted to talk about getting my name added to the lease if possible. It's why I lost my other place. I was giving my roommate money and assuming he was using it to pay the rent. But then our landlord evicted us. Or _him._ I guess would be more accurate, because his name was the only one on any of the paperwork. I found out he had a bad drug habit, and that's where all my money was going." 

He looked up where his stare had been fixated on a gray spot on the carpet. This apartment needed so much fixing up, but, of course he would never tell her that. 

"I know it's a pretty shitty thing to ask because you seem so nice and... _.not_ at all like a drug addict."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down with the compliments there, Casanova. You're going to make a girl blush if you keep on."

Ben laughed, but Rey could tell it was out embarrassment. It was cute. "Sorry, I didn't mean that.... It's just that we don't really know each other very well, other than as co-workers, and since I got royally screwed over the last time, I need to make sure I protect myself. It's nothing against _you_ or anything. I'd do with with anyone."

"Would it make you feel better if I just showed you my boobs to get the edge off?"

Ben's eyes widened. "What? Why would you even want to--"

Rey shrugged. "Well, you said that we didn't know each other well, so, I figured it'd be a good way to begin to open up with each other. Like an icebreaker of sorts," she explained.

"Are you serious or just joking with me like usual?" Ben asked, clearly still shocked by her offer. "You want to get to know each other better by stripping?"

"The thought may or may not have crossed my mind on more than one occasion." Ben said. "Oh, and to answer your question about getting your name on the lease, that's totally fine with me. I completely get not wanting to trust someone you barely even know. Although, it usually works the opposite way with me. The more I get to know someone, the less I seem to trust them."

"Really?" She could see the concern in his eyes, like he wanted her to elaborate but though he probably shouldn't ask her to. She was highly thankful for that.

"Yeah, didn't you know? People suck," she answered casually. "At least in my experience, anyway." 

There was a moment between them whether neither of them spoke, and all that could be hard was the buzzing sound of the refrigerator in the kitchen.

"But," she said, trying to keep her voice light and airy. "If you will want to see my boobs, I'm totally game."

Ben coughed out a laugh. "You're one of a kind, Rey Kenobi, you know that?"

An amused smile slowly crept over Rey's face at his comment. "Yep, you're right. I am." she said with a curt nod. Sure, she had his own reservations of him, just as sure as he had them with her, but she felt it wasn't something that they couldn't overcome in time.

* * *

"Oh my God," Rose said. "You're totally going to bang him. I just know it! I can't believe you haven't already!"

"You don't _know_ anything," Rey argued. 

"Oh, I know this. His penis," she said slowly as she inserted a finger through her the fists of her other hand for the grand effect. "is going to be buried inside your vagina before the end of the week. I bet you five dollars." 

"You're seriously betting on my sex life?" Rey asked.

"It's appears that I am. But my own life is clearly even sadder than we both originally thought, so I need to live vicariously."

"Rose, he wouldn't even look at my booms when I offered. I mean seriously, what sort of guy turns down an offer like that?"

"A super sweet one," Rose replied. 

Rey gave her best friend an exaggerated laugh. "That means nothing. Even sweet guys get horny from time to time. There's no logical explanation for what he wouldn't want to see them other than the hypothesis I just now came up with."

"Which is what? He's gay, isn't he?" Rose gabbed Rey's arm. "Oh please don't tell me that he's gay! That'll be totally devastating!"

"He's not gay and for who? You or me?" Rey reassured her. "Trust me, I already asked him that the first day I had to shadow him at work."

"Oh, well that's good," Rose said, releasing her grip on Rey's forearm. "Then what's your explanation of it oh, smart-one?"

Rey slowly leaned back in her chair and stared out the window of the deli in sadness. "That he has a tiny dick."

"What?" Rose popped a potato chip into her mouth and took a quick sip of her diet soda. "That literally makes no _fucking_ sense, Rey." 

"Actually, it's the only thing that makes sense here," Rey said, turning back to her friend. "Just hear me out, okay? He probably felt like if I showed him mine, then he'd have to show me his. Otherwise, he'd seem like a total pervert who just wants to look at women's boobs all day long."

"But that was your offer to him," Rose said.

"I know that. But still. I think he would've felt obligated to return the favor back to me. Or at least offer to. What other reason would he have to not want to show me cock? It's got to be small. Like microscopic small, Rose. Because guys show their junk to anybody who wants to look at it. And also to anybody who doesn't wanna look," she added as an afterthought. "Remember that guy on the subway who kept flashing people but claimed it wasn't indecent exposure because he had it covered with a banana peel?"

Rose sighed in what Rey identified as defeat. "As much as it pains me to admit it, you might be onto something here." 

"Thank you," Rey said, pleased with herself.

"But that could just mean that he didn't want you to see his little man in the light. You know...where you could evaluate it's size and shape and all that. That logic doesn't transfer to fucking. All guys fuck if they get the opportunity too. Doesn't matter what they look like or how minuscule their dongs are. If someone offers to fuck them, they fuck. Besides, maybe he grows more than shows."

"Maybe you're right," Rey admitted.

"Of course, I'm right," Rose said. "Every guy fucks, Rey. Every guy."

Rey took a look around the diner at the people surrounding them. "Okay," Rey said. "I'm choosing to believe you only because believing you results in me having sex with Ben. Who I'm still imagining has a huge cock until I find out otherwise."

"Good for you," Rose said. "I'm glad that's finally settled."

"Me too," said a partially balding man who'd been sitting on the other side of Rose at the counter.

Rey hadn't even noticed him until he's spoken up. His rounded shoulders made him look....puffy, and his voice didn't sound much deeper than her own. He reminded Rey of someone who might've worked on the Best Buy's Geek Squad. 

"But if it doesn't work out with this Ben guy," he said. "give me a call." Then he stood, and on the way to throw out his trash, he slipped Rey his number on a napkin and added. "Because like your friend her said, I fuck too."

Rey picked up the napkin at the corner with two fingers like it might have been laced with some sort of drug that would result in her winding up in the trunk of a car with no recollection of how she even got there in the first place. 

"Well, at least now you have a Plan B," Rose said, causing them to burst out into fits of laughter. 


	6. Chapter 6

Ben had been at the coffeehouse for only three hours, but it felt like a lot more. Maybe it was that it was during the weekday lull between rush hour and lunchtime---when people were still happily caffeinated from their morning fix and didn't feel the need to come in until they started fiending for their afternoon pick-me-up.

But he'd been working there long long enough to be used to the boredom and usually had no problem busying himself with any task he could find: restocking paper products, taking out the trash, doing inventory. 

He didn't even mind cleaning the bathrooms if it helped passed the time. But today he'd done all those things only to find his mind wishing away the hours like a bad herpes outbreak. Not that he'd know what that actually felt like. It wasn't until ten o'clock when Ben realized the reason for his urge to speed up time.

And that reason was barely over five foot seven and had just walked in wearing a shirt that said Caffeine and Cardio. It suddenly occurred to Ben that he didn't think Rey even worked out, at least not that he'd seen in the few days they'd been living together, anyways.

Not that she really needed to. She was perfect, just the way she was. 

"You're late."

Ben looked up from where he'd been filling the straws to see Poe standing at the counter, his hands on his hips as stared down at Rey.

"Am I?"

"You are. A whole three minutes to be exact."

"Sorry, Poe," Rey said, and Ben could tell she was doing her best to seem contrite. Her hazel eyes locked onto his for a moment, and she gave him a quick smile before looking back at Poe again. "Won't let it happen again."

Poe nodded before pointing out that the other thing she wouldn't let happen again was wearing a tank top top into work.

"Seriously?" Rey glanced down at her shirt. "It says 'Caffeine', though. And this is a coffee shop. I'm practically a mascot for the place today. You should be giving me a raise, not reprimanding me."

Ben tired his best to hide his laugh. She had some balls that Rey Kenobi. Poe was usually short tempered, and normally if someone had talked to him in that way, they would've been fired on the spot, no questions asked---but evidentially, he needed Rey around the place, otherwise she'd be out of here with the way she talked to him. 

"Shirts without sleeves are out of dress code, Miss Kenobi." Poe said.

"Oh. Is this in a manual somewhere or something?" Rey asked.

"Yes. As a matter of fact it is. It's in the one that I gave you when I first hired you, but I'm guessing you didn't read it. You cam tale one of the shirts we sell, and I'll just take the money for it out of your paycheck."

"Okay," Rey said with a sigh before putting her bag under the cabinet underneath the counter and heading over to the wooden shelving unit that housed the coffee shop's apparel. 

Ben walked over and stood next to her. "Sup?" he said before he could stop himself from asking something do dumb.

"Oh, nothing much," Rey answered. "Just trying to choose which thirty-two dollar T-shirt that I'd like to buy today."

Ben put his hands in his pockets and looked at the selection. "I say get the hazel-green colored one. Can't go wrong with a color that matches your eyes, right?" he said.

"I thought I couldn't go wrong with a shirt that advertised caffeine either, but now I'm standing here, paying thirty-two dollars for it."

Ben turned away from the clothing to face her. "Well, if it helps you feel any better, I like it." 

He wanted to tell her that one of the many reasons he liked it was that the words drew more attention to her chest without making him seem like a complete perv for looking at it. A chest he'd, by some miracle, been able to decline seeing when she'd offered a few nights ago. 

He hadn't wanted to seem like some middle-school boy who jumped at the chance to see some girl's tits. But he'd be kidding himself if he pretended he wasn't interested. And not only in Rey's body. But in her as a person, too. She was funny and confident and perhaps a little more open than she should be for a girl. 

Yet she also had a sort of mystery about her that made Ben want to see what made her tick. 

"Thanks," she said with a small smile before reaching for a small hazel-green T-shirt. 

"Oh wait," Ben said, holding up a finger and already walking backward as he spoke. "I just remembered that I have an extra T-shirt in my car."

"Oh my God, Ben. You're a total lifesaver," she called as he exited the store. He tried not to think dirty thoughts about what it was like to hear Rey say, "Oh my God, Ben," but he couldn't help it.

She was too cute and seemed to be more comfortable with her sexuality than most of the women he'd ever been around. Ben grabbed the shirt from his bag and shut the trunk of his car. When he got back inside, she was coming back from clocking in. 

"Here you go," he said, handing her the shirt. "Sorry. It's a little big." He held up the red shirt to her torso and saw that came down to her mid-thigh. "Or maybe a lot of big."

She looked down. "But it also has a heart on it and says, "I tolerate you." She gave him a warm and affectionate smile. "It's perfect." A few minutes later, she came out of the bathroom with her sleeves rolled and the bottom of her shirt tied to the side so it fit snuggly around her waist. "Do you care that I tied it like this?" she asked. "It might stretch a little." 

"Nope. I've only worn it like one time or something. I keep it in the car for emergencies."

Rey laughed. "Tell me, Solo, are there a lot of T-shirt emergencies?"

Ben rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess only ones when pretty roommates choose the wrong outfit for their shift." 

Rey smiled up at him, but her gaze dropped away from his for a moment. "Well, thanks. You know for the shirt _and_ the compliment." she said.

"My pleasure. Glad it went to good use. My college roommate gave it to me as a joke at the end of our freshman year." 

"You went to college?" Rey asked, and Ben didn't know whether to be offended that she couldn't believe he'd attended any type of higher educated or flattered that he didn't seem like the type. 

"Went, yes. Graduated, no," he clarified. 

Rey grabbed an apron from behind the counter and tied it around her waist. "Why?"

"What you mean why did I go, or why didn't I graduate?"

She thought for a moment. "Both, if you don't mind me asking."

Ben shrugged. It was a complicated answer, but she chose to make it as simple as possible. "I went because that's what my parents expected me to do, and I dropped out because I should've have ever gone to begin with."

"Oh shit, really? Were your parents pissed off when you did?"

"I think the word "pissed' would probably be a bit of an understatement," he said. He then noticed a customer walk up to the counter and look at the menu board. 

He gave a nod toward the woman so Rey saw her too, and then they both headed over. Though Rey had picked up mostly everything once she'd given it a little effort, she continued to shadow Ben as Poe had asked to. And Ben was happy to have the company. 

"What can we get for you, ma'am?" Rey asked the woman.

"I'm not sure," she said.

She looked to be about the same age and size as Rey but seemed to be her opposite in every single way. The girl looked like she smiled all the time, which highlighted the freckles sprinkled all over her cheekbones, and her strawberry-blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail. Something told him that Rey would never be caught dead in a high-ponytail. 

"What would you recommend?" Her question was clearly directed at Ben and was said in such a bubbly voice he almost laughed. 

"Um, I don't know." It wasn't that he'd never been asked for a recommendation before, and he was comfortable giving them.

But most of the time when someone asked the barista for a suggestion, the person gave some sort of indication as to what they were looking for--an afternoon boost that wasn't too heavy or some sort of cold coffee with a hint of sweetness.

"Were you thinking of getting coffee or something else?"

"Either," she answered. "But I definitely don't want something that's too high in calories," Somehow she managed to smile even wider, and Ben could've sworn he saw her bat her eyelashes more times than were probably necessary. "Don't want to lose my bikini body." She laughed at her own comment. 

"Have you tried the sweet cream cold brew?" Rey asked. "You can add a flavor to it. Vanilla, mocha, caramel, whatever you like."

Ben hadn't expected Rey to suggest a drink, but now that she had, he knew exactly why. Their sweet cream cold brew was extremely high in fat and not light on calories by any means, especially if the woman chose to add some sort of flavored syrup to it.

"I haven't," the customer said. "Do _you_ like it?" she asked Ben. 

Ben then looked to Rey, who was now leaning her head in her palm as she rested her elbow on the high countertop nearby. "Yeah, Ben. What do you think? Should she get the sweet cream cold brew?"

Rey's devious smile made Ben turn up a side of his lip as well. "Yeah, it's really good." he said once his gaze returned to the woman in front of him. "I like it with vanilla and caramel."

"That sounds good," she said. "I'll take a medium one of those. My name's Mara-Jade, by the way."

"Oh." Ben said as he then rung her up. "We don't take names here, we're not like Starbucks. We just go by the number on your receipt. And that'll be four nineteen, please."

She slid her card through the reader and punched in her code. Ben handed her the receipt and told her it would be ready in a minute and delivered at the other end of the counter. A few minutes later, Ben handed the woman her drink, and she left, telling him she'd see him later.

He wasn't sure it that was a polite goodbye or a literal statement of her intentions, but he tried hard not to think about it.

Once the woman was gone, Rey spoke. "Nice one recommending two flavors instead of just one. I'm impressed, Solo. I didn't think you had it in you."

"You guys are truly just horrible you know that?," Phasma said before Ben even had a chance to reply. He hadn't even realized she'd been behind the counter the whole time watching them. 

Ben kind of agreed with her, but Rey was quick to defend them. "Why? That kind woman asked for a drink recommendation, so we suggested one for her. We were being helpful."

Phasma scoffed. "Oh please. You told her to get something that has like four-hundred calories in it when she _clearly_ told you she was watching her calorie intake."

Rey squared her shoulders at Phasma and crossed her arms. "Well, the lie detector determined _that_ was a lie."

Ben laughed at the allusion of _Maury_ , but the joke had clearly missed its mark on Phasma, who stood there looking puzzled. "What on earth are you talking about? What lie detector?"

Rey just shook her head. "Never mind. I meant that I know she was lying about counting the calories. She has a great body, and anyone who's truly counting calories would've known that drink had a shit tone of them in there, even if she didn't know the exact number. I think she'll be just fine."

"You can't just mess with a customer like that just because she had a thing for Ben. It's wrong. And if you do it again, I'm telling Poe."

"Snitches get stiches," Rey said. 

"Clever saying. Did you make it up just now?"

Rey stared at her for a moment before saying, "I didn't come up with it. Jesus. You're not even any fun to threaten, anyways."

"Wait, you're threatening me?" Phasma asked.

"Why? Are you going to tell Poe if I am?" Rey glared, and Ben suddenly sensed a shift in her.

The imposing presence that made her intimidating despite her small stature. Rey's glare seemed to make Phasma think about her response. "Let's all just get back to work," she said before turning and walking toward the Keurig cups to continued stocking them.

* * *

"I really think you might've actually scared her at the end there," Ben said once Phasma was far enough away from them that couldn't hear. 

Rey looked over at her. "You think? She's like five-foot-ten and probably has thirty pounds on me. Besides, I doubt she thought I would actually hit her or anything."

"You wouldn't?" Ben asked, his eyebrow raised like he didn't believe her for a second. 

"Of course not, Ben. I'm trying to keep his job, not lose it. It was intentionally vague for a particular reason."

"Um you told her 'Snitches get stiches.'" he said with a slight laugh. 

It was a valid point. She had said that. "That's true. But people can end up with stiches for a different number of reasons that don't include me punching the shit out of her."

"Like...."" he asked, drawing out the word as a way of proving his point. 

"I don't know," Rey said. "Like....getting their wisdom taken out or example?"

"You're going to remove Phasma's wisdom teeth if she goes and tells on you?"

His comment made Rey laugh out loud. "Okay. Okay, I admit, that does sound a bit strange. Maybe she'll just trip on her way out of Poe's office and bit her tongue or something. They'll have to stich it back together, but it'll still keep her from talking ever again."

Ben leaned against the counter and put his hands on the edge, making his biceps somehow fill the sleeves of his black T-shirt a bit more than they already did. He cocked his head to one said, clearly amused by this conversation. "Oh, okay. That's much more plausible. So, Karma is the one giving her the stiches here, not you."

"Exactly," Rey said with a smile. "Karma's the bitch here, not me."

Ben nodded before pushing himself off the counter. "I totally get it now. And speaking of Poe, we better get back to work. He'll have our asses if he sees us just standing around like this."

"Okay," Rey said. "I definitely don't want anyone else having your eyes before I get to."

She walked around to the other side of the counter and began to innocently look through the packaging dates of some of the cookies and muffins.

"You want my ass?" Ben asked, but Rey did her best to keep a straight face without looking up. 

She took a few more cellophane-wrapped cookies out of the basket and set them aside. "Do we just throw these away after forty-eight hours?" she asked, holding up an oatmeal raisin. 

"Yes," he answered. And then. "What were you thinking of dong with it?"

"I'm sure there are a few homeless shelters that would love to just have some as a snack or something."

"I meant of my ass?" he asked, and this time, Rey's head popped up in complete surprise.

"No, not your ass, you idiot! This food! Why would a homeless shelter or homeless people want some of your peach-ass?"

"That's because they wouldn't. That's why....I was wondering what you...." Ben couldn't seem to finish a cohesive thought whenever he was around her.

Instead he rubbed his hands through his wavy dark hair in a way that resembled a confused puppy dog. It was fun to watch. Finally, he sighed as he seemed to get his thoughts together.

"You said that Poe better not have my ass before you, and then you started talking about cookies, but I wasn't talking about cookies, I was still talking about my ass, and....I know that sounds really weird," he said with a shake of his head. "And now I'm rambling and....Jesus., it was just an odd thing to say, I guess. That you wanted my ass, so I was just asking what you wanted to do with it."

Rey remained stoic, enjoying just how flustered the gorgeous man in front of her got at the mention of his ass. But after a few moments, she couldn't help but let out the small, laugh he'd been holding in.

"Great, and now you're laughing at me now. I feel so much better," he said with a shake of his head. "Are you purposely messing with me?"

"Possibly. It's just so much fun," she answered. "But I was serious about wanting your ass. And to answer your question--because I know guys can be quite protective of that area---I wasn't thinking of doing anything weird to it. I'm only interested in seeing it." She paused for a moment before adding. "Okay, full disclosure----I'm also probably interested in grabbing it." 

Her last sentence caused Ben to choke on the air he'd breathed in. My God, this girl was a total fucking riot! He had never met anyone so---so open-minded like her before and it was driving him insane! 

"I mean I wasn't planning on jamming anything into it, so no worries there," she continued while he struggled to collect himself. Holding up her right hand, she said. "Scout's honor." 

Finally Ben seemed to relax enough to pull in a deep breath so that he could finally speak. "Okay, well, that's good to know," he said. "About the not-jamming things-in-there-part, because I'm not sure that I'd be into that, honestly."

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes overtly raking over him in a way that she was so sure he'd picked up on. His body was so rigid, and his gaze was so fixated on her face tat she guessed he was struggling to keep it there. Finally, her eyes landed back on his.

"So that means you're into the rest of it?" she asked.

His face remained expressionless for a moment before the corners of his laps raised into a small smile. "I might be," he said before turning away from her and walking into the back room.

His words sounded very much like a challenge. And Rey Kenobi loved a good challenge. 


	7. Chapter 7

Rey wiped a hand through the condensation on the bathroom mirror and looked at her reflection. She scrunched up her hair with her hands and lightly slapped her cheeks to give him some more color, even though she was already a bit flushed from her shower. 

Giving herself a seductive look, she steeled herself to see her plan through. She'd left Ben sitting in the living room where they'd been watching TV. _Life in the ER_ had never been so titillating. The sexual tension, which seemed to only affect Rey since Ben had looked as relaxed as she'd ever seen him, had almost made her throw herself across his lap and beg him to fuck her with his maybe-big-but-more-likely-small dick.

Ben had been living with her for almost a week, and Rose's prediction had yet to come to fruition. Even though its occurrence would cost Rey five dollars, she'd decided that it was a bet she'd gladly lose. 

But Ben had seemed to solidly friend-zone her, which wasn't a place she could ever remember being in before. It was a desolate, horrifying place, and she wanted out of there stat. Hence the impromptu shower. Rey figured wrapping a small towel around her wet, naked body would get things progressing in the right direction

There was a quiet and annoying voice in the back of her head that said banging her new roommate was not a very smart move.

She did genuinely liked living with Ben, which was a big change for her. And even stranger, he seemed to like living with her as well. She knew that sex could make things complicated. Rey suddenly wish she'd banged one of her previous roommates so she had a frame of reference.

Currently, it didn't even matter to her that they'd all previously been females. She'd so almost anything in the name of science, and that would've been one experiment she would've given her left breast to have conducted. Well, maybe not the left one. That one was her favorite. 

With her mind made up, she tucked her towel around herself a little tighter in the hopes that her boobs would bust it open at precisely the right moment.

Then she pulled up the door and walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. She tried to get a quick peek at Ben when she walked between him and the television on her way, though she was careful to keep her chin up and her shoulders pushed back.

She hoped her posture said something like, _Don't mind my totally naked and inviting body walking directly into your line of sight to get a snack, or Please follow me and make me see god on my Kama Sutra tiles._

Either one was acceptable as long as it resulted in an orgasm. She had been able to register in the smallest of movements when she walked by, as if he'd jerked back slightly when she'd entered the room. 

Taking that as win, she continued into the kitchen and headed directly to the set of cabinets that she kept her stash of junk food in. Thankfully, it was directly across the peninsula from the living room, which gave Ben a pretty clear view of at least her upper body if he turned his head. Which she hoped he had.

 _Towel, don't fail me now._ She threw open the cabinet and reached up to riffle through its contents. 

When the insidious piece of cloth didn't budge, Rey slowly let out all the air in her lungs taking in a deep inhale and reaching even higher. It did the trick. The towel unfolded from around her and dropped to the floor.

"Oh, darn," she said as she turned around and looked at the fabric on the floor as if it had betrayed her, though inside she was going a jig of joy. But when she sneaked a quick glance over at Ben, he wasn't even looking back. 

In fact, his neck seemed to be so rigidly, holding his head facing the TV, his muscles were straining with effort. This was the second time, Ben had refused to look at her breasts, and it was infuriating. 

Not even bothering to grab her towel, she walked over to the peninsula and planted her hands atop it. "Oh, come on! It can't be _that_ small." 

Ben seemed to startle before his head began going the weird jerking thing as if part of his brain was telling him to turn his head while the other part stoutly refused to let him do so. Finally, he seemed to settle for slanting his eyes in her direction. "Um, what?"

"Your dick. I mean, you're a fairly big guy. How small could it really be?"

He angled his head toward her a little more. "Why we we talking about the size of my dick all of a sudden?"

"Because it's literally all I've been able to think about for a week now, and you're being really unfair by withholding it from me. And I can't think of any other reason why you won't let me see it besides it being an embarrassment to dicks everywhere." 

Ben looked back at the TV for a moment before shifting on the couch so that he faced her more squarely. "Forgive me, but I'm so lost right now, Rey." 

"You're a single guy. I'm a single girl. Seriously, why are we not spending all of our free time naked around each other?" 

She watched his lips quirk slightly. "Well, it seems as if you've gotten that party started pretty well on your own."

"You think this is funny? This is so not funny, Ben Solo."

At that, Ben began to laugh. "Come on, it's a little funny." 

Her shoulders dropped, and she fought back her own smile. "I'm just---I'm dick starved, okay? I haven't been laid in almost a year now. How is that amusing to you?"

Ben's laughter turned into an air-gasping burst of hysteria. "Did you really just say 'dick-starved' just now?" he asked between what sounded almost like sobs.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did," she replied with a stomp of her foot that was totally negated by the fact that she, too, was now laughing. "I'm so thirsty for it, I feel dehydrated."

That only made him laugh harder, which she hadn't thought was possible. She rested an elbow on the peninsula and plopped her chin into her hand to wait him out. Ben came back to himself slowly, random chuckles still bursting out of his windpipe like hiccups.

Finally, he laid his head back on the couch and let his head flop to the side so that his eyes were on her. Rey felt her entire body tense up at the seriousness in them. The sudden blast of heat was something she hadn't expected to see after his laughing fit. But as they stared one another down, it became abundantly clear that he didn't find anything funny anymore.

And she wasn't the only one who was thirsty. He was ravenous, wanting to eat her up. 

* * *

Ben wasn't sure which head he should be listening to anymore. Because the one that had turned down the offer of scoping out Rey's chest was starting to sound like a real fucking prude, and it was pissing him off. His dick, on the other hand, seemed to be pointing directly at Rey.

There was a litany of reasons this was a totally bad idea. Chief among them was the fact that he'd be homeless again if things went south. 

And odds were very good that things would go south eventually. That was simply how Ben's life went. But Rey had already called the landlord about getting him added to the lease, and they had an appointment with him set up early next week. Surely, he couldn't fuck things up _that_ fast. 

Once he was on the lease, she wouldn't be able to toss him out when---whatever was bound to happen happened. Things would be tense, but he wouldn't be homeless. And that thought was enough for him to pat the couch cushion next to him.

Rey titled her head at him. "With the towel or without?"

"My personal preference is without, but it's up to you." 

She seemed to mull it over for a second, which surprised him. She'd been the aggressor from day one, and it made him wonder if it had all been just an act. 

"Seriously, it's your call," he said. "I don't want to pressure you into anything you don't want."

Rey looked at him like he was an alien from out of this world. "You're not pressuring me. I'm just trying to figure out if I'll want the towel for other purposes."

A million things flew through his mind, but trying to figure out exactly what she meant by that was too exhausting to contemplate, so he asked her instead, "What other purposes could it serve?"

Shrugging, Rey leaned forward so that she was bent over the peninsula, her breasts squashed into the tile. "Blindfold, gag, restraints....lots of things." 

Ben was amazed that someone like this existed, let alone wanted to sleep with him. "That's....that is probably without a doubt one of the hottest things anyone's ever said to me in a long time. Maybe ever." 

Rey pouted. "Hey, I've said a lot of hot shit since we first met."

Ben laughed as he patted the cushion next to him again. "Get your sexy ass over here, now." 

Standing slowly, Rey dragged a finger across the countertop as she walked around it. The act struck him as a bit of a cliché move that still managed to be hot as fuck. Especially when she came fully into the room, and he got an eyeful of her naked body. 

Smooth, pale skin stretched over a curvy body that was something out of Ben's fantasies. Her nipples were pink and pebbled on her ample chest. Genetics had been really fucking good to Rey. She lowered a knee to the cushion he'd patted, but she didn't fully sit down next to him.

Instead, she swung her other leg over Ben's thighs and settled her round ass on him. Her breasts pushed into his black shirt as she rocked into him, her naked pussy rubbing him through his mesh shorts. He gripped her hips as he encouraged her to keep undulating him. His cock was hard---had been since she'd walked past him in nothing but a towel--and it demanded more friction. More. Rey.

Her breath ghosted over his ear as she panted at the sensation. "I just have one rule," she said on an exhale. 

He pressed a kiss to her neck. "Don't worry, Rey. I always glove up." Not that he'd had much need to recently. His entire life had been practically stagnate for months. Maybe even years if he let himself truly dissccet it. That is, until he met Rey.

Rey chuckled lightly, but it turned into a moan as the tip of his dick dragged across her clit. "I guess I have two rules then."

"So, what's the other?" he asked as he nibbled on her collarbone.

Spearing her fingers through his soft, black hair, Rey yanked just hard enough to pull his head back so that he was looking up at her. "This is just sex. Wherever, whenever you want it, I'm down. But I don't do.....more. You got it?" 

Rey was massaging his scalp as she continued rocking into him. There was a slight smile in her lips that took the bite out of her words, but the sincerity was still there. In her eyes, in her very tone. And Ben agreed that it was something they definitely needed to be on the same page about.

"Just so that I'm clear, what exactly qualifies as 'more' for you?" he asked.

Rey immediately stopped moving and looked at him seriously. "Dating, commitment, love. I'm not a puppet, Ben. No one puts strings on me and controls me or what I say or do." 

Ben had to hold in a scoff. He was a disowned college dropout who could barely make ends meet. He was in no position to offer anyone anything except an orgasm. He moved his hand from her hip and held it out to her.

"Deal."

Looking down at his hand, Rey laughed before grasping it. "Good. Now, where were we?"

Ben let his head fall back against the couch. "You were about to make me cum in my pants like a teenager." 

Grinding down on him harder, Rey let her hands drift down his chest to the hem of his T-shirt, which she promptly yanked over his head. "Was I now? That's pretty sexy, actually."

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah. Knowing that I can make you lose it just by rubbing against you. Makes me feel kind of....powerful."

"Well, hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you haven't made it happen yet. Maybe you're not up for the challenge."

Rey shook her head slightly. "Ben, Ben Ben. If there's one thing you're going to need to learn about me, it's that I'm _always_ up for the challenge," Then her lips were on his, her tongue tangling with his almost instantly. 

Ben raised his hands to cup her face as she sat up straighter. Her gyrations against him sped up, and he let one of his hands drift down her spine until came into contact with her ass. She pressed tightly onto him, and her tiny frame made it easy for his fingers to keep moving, sliding along her creased and into her wet pussy.

He finger-fucked her as she rubbed her clit over the erection in his shorts. He could feel himself leaking pre-cum. 

"Oh, fuck, Ben. Just like that," Rey fucked back on his fingers while still grinding on his cock. This girl should've been a Broadway dancer with the way that she could move her body.

"You going to cum for me?" he asked her, more because he felt his balls drawing up tight and less because he was fluent in dirty talk.

But she groaned at his words as if they'd personally traveled down her body and rubbed against her G-spot. "Yeah. I-I'm so close." 

His own orgasm felt like it was zinging down his spine. He sucked one of her nipples into his mouth and pulled on it lightly with his teeth. Her breathing hitched before her entire body locked up for a brief moment, followed by a bone-deep shudder that thrummed through her entire body.

His released slammed into him a couple seconds alter. Jets of cum shot all over the inside of his boxers. It would be a total mess, and fuck it if he cared. He hadn't even been inside of her, and Ben had cum hard enough to make his dick pulse even after the last of his cum had shot out of him.

They panted against one another, still wrapped up in each other. Finally, Rey pulled back. "Having a male roommate was literally the best decision of my entire life."

Ben laughed as he lightly swatted her ass. "I'm so glad to hear that." 


	8. Chapter 8

"Have you really not had sex in a year?"

The words startled Rey, who'd been lingering in the euphoria that had followed a great orgasm. Once they'd both cum, they both went to their respective rooms to clean up and change. Or Rey's cased, get dressed.

But by some sort of unspoken agreement, they'd cone right back out onto the couch and flipped channels until they found a movie they could agree on. It was some comedy that Rey wouldn't remember the name of, but it was entertaining enough that she relaxed next to Ben and let herself get wrapped up in it.

That is until Ben's words crashed in on her moment of bliss. "Yeah. Maybe a little longer, actually." She turned her head and smiled at him. "I don't exactly keep a calendar of my sex-capades."

He looked at her thoughtfully before releasing a "Hmm" and then turned his attention back to the TV once more. 

Rey sat up a little straighter after that response. "You sound so surprised."

"I am, actually," Ben said simply as he continued watching the movie. 

"Why?" 

Ben looked at her like she'd lost her mind. It was a look she was actually fairly used to, but she didn't necessarily like it coming from him, though she wasn't entirely sure why because he's seen her naked now. 

"Are you serious? You literally offered to show me your boobs the first day that I moved in here. And then you do your---" Ben flailed his hand toward the kitchen---"towel routine. Not to mention the fact that you've been coming onto me so strongly since the day we met."

Rey tilted her head and thought about what he'd said. She could definitely see where he was coming from. Ret did tend to blurt out whatever she was thinking. It just so happened that whenever she was around Ben, she thought about sex. In fact, that's all she seemed to think about whenever she was around him.

She wanted to have sex with him so bad that it was like an annoying, nagging poltergeist. However, they were roommates, plus co-workers and they'd already crossed a line as it were moments ago. 

"Okay, I get where I may have come off as a bit a ho-ish sort of vibe."

Ben whipped toward her. "Hey, I didn't mean it as an insult. You just seem very....open-minded about....well, a lot of things, actually. It wasn't a diss, I swear."

"Well, I didn't take it as an insult under you started defending yourself." 

Ben opened and closed his mouth a few times before sighing. "I can't never tell whether you're fucking with me or not."

Rey turned her attention back to the movie. "I'm not sure either," she said. 

They sat in silence for a few minute, and even Rey could tell that it was awkward. But she didn't want that between them, so she did what she rarely did with anyone. She decided to talk about something very personal to her.

"The thing about me is that I am pretty open-minded like you said, but not in the way you probably meant it. My brain is open in the senses that everything in there comes spilling out at one point another. So when I'm attracted to someone, I can't necessarily process it all internally. It just sort of...seeps out. But the truth is, I'm not attracted to people all that much. I mean, I can objectively see that someone is attractive, but I just don't _feel_ it very often. So when it does happen, I tend to come on a little strong sometimes."

Studying her, Ben was silent for a beat before he nodded. "Makes sense."

"Really?" she asked dryly. She wasn't told she made sense all that often. 

Ben shrugged. "Sure."

His attention drifted back to the TV, but Rey's eyes stayed on him a bit stronger. His ability to roll with her quirks was....kind of endearing. Though it also made her wonder if he was even crazier than she was. Eventually, she became so absorbed in the movie again.

"Damn, this movie is hilarious."

Ben side-eyed her. "You know this is a horror movie, right?"

"No way," she said.

"Yes. It is," Ben said slowly as if that would help it sink in or something. "There have been, like, five super gory deaths since we turned it on. And a whole bunch of people in the very beginning because their plane exploded."

"But they always die in such funny ways."

"How is people dying funny?"

"It's not funny when real people die, sure," She gestured at the TV flat-screen. "It's only funny when these people die."

Ben laughed. "Why?"

"Okay, so take the decapitated guy, for example. The way his head just rolled along the ground afterwards, it's funny. And everyone's overreacting like it's a spoof or something."

"I don't think the director's intentions was for the audience to find someone getting their head sliced off humorous."

"Well, that was his mistake." 

Ben laughed again, though louder this time. "You see," Rey said. "Even you find it funny, too."

"No, I just find you funny, is all." He tapped her leg with his hand. "I'd _really_ love to see what you'd actually consider a real horror movie?"

"I don't think I've ever been scared by a horror movie to be perfectly honest with you, Solo," she replied. "The fact that it's not real always keeps me from getting freaked out by anything."

"Man, oh man, I may have to test that theory. I love scary movies."

Rey shrugged. "Oh please, Solo, do your very worst. I dare you."

"Oh believe me, I will. I'm already running through my mental catalog of horror flicks to scare you with. I bet I can even find some that will make you want to run and hide in your closet," he said with a slight chuckle. 

At the moment, Rey was glad Ben was still staring at the screen. It meant he didn't see the way her entire body tensed, the sweat that seemed to pop up out of nowhere, the shaking of her hands. She didn't want to do this here, with him sitting mere inches away.

Jumping up, Rey started toward her room. "This was fun, Ben, but I'm exhausted. Night, Ben." She hated the wobble in her voice, the rigidity of her gait as she walked as slowly as she darted towards her room. 

"Oh, um, night, I guess." she heard Ben call out after her. Her probably thought she was a total whack-job, but she couldn't bring herself to care about that at the moment. 

She slammed her bedroom door a little harder than she'd meant to and sagged against it. Closing her eyes, she tried to slow down her breathing. The panic felt like it was trying to claw its way her skin even though she was desperately trying to beat it back. Her eyes flew open, and she looked to the large window in her bedroom that opened into the fire escape. 

Rey ran over to it, threw it open and immediately climbed outside. Rolling up into a tiny ball, Rey rocked back and forth on the fire escape, the movement settling her nerves as fresh, open air followed around her. 

The street below her was bustling and well-lit. She wasn't alone. It wasn't dark. She was okay. Everything would be okay.

Rey had no idea how long it took her to calm down enough to come back inside the apartment. She was too exhausted to care about the time or anything else besides making sure all her lights were on. Her entire body felt leaden when she climbed into bed, and she fell asleep almost immediately.

Which was a mistake, because really, after all these years, she should've know what would happen next. 

* * *

Ben bolted up in his bed, unsure at first of what had woken him. There were a few silent seconds before he heard a noise again. No, not a noise. A scream. He sprang out of bed and ran to Rey's room. He was surprised but thankful that her door was unlocked as he barged through it.

The sight before him literally paralyzed him for a moment. Rey was withering around in her bed, muttering words that were unintelligible but in a tone easy to identify. Fear. Ben forced himself to move, letting one knee rest on the bed as he gripped her shoulders with his hands, firmly but not painfully. "Rey, wake up! Wake up!"

She thrashed against his hold, so he gave her a gentle shake. "Rey! You're having a nightmare! Wake up!"

The shake caused her to jolt wide awake as if she'd literally just come back into herself. Her eyes flew open, and she scurried up toward the headboard, pulling out of his search. She stared at him with wild, terrified eyes as he hugged her knees to her chest.

Ben held out a placating hand. "Hey, it's okay. I was just trying to wake you up. You were having some kind of nightmare."

She looked at him for a few moments longer. She was scaring the ever-loving fuck out of him, and he needed her to talk to him before he started to panic.

"Get out of here."

Okay, so maybe he should've been more specific when he wished for her to speak to him. Because those weren't exactly at all comforting. "Rey---"

"I really just need you to get out of my room. Right now." Her voice was steady despite the fact that her body was shaking. But it an eerie calmness that gave him the impression she had a very loose grip on her emotions. 

It made the thought of leaving her alone completely unappealing. "I can stay. I really don't mind. Do you want to talk about---"

She then leaped out to the bed and marched over to the door, holding it open for him a clear indication for him to see himself out. Ben looked at her for a few seconds before moving. She looked raw in a way that made his chest ache for her, but she seemed to know what she wanted, and that was for him to make tracks out of her room. 

The only thing he could do was respect her privacy. But before he could leave, he needed to try again, one final time. "If you need anything---"

"I won't, trust me." 

Nodding, Ben walked out of her room, but her voice stopped him before he got more than four feet away.

"Ben," she said. He slowly turned to face her, and she continued, "I'm not going to want to talk about this tomorrow, either."

"Okay," he replied before making his way back to his bedroom. He looked at the clock as he climbed back into his own bed. Two a.m.

He felt wired, which made it unlikely that he'd fall back asleep---especially when he could hear the MacGyver theme playing through the wall---but there wasn't anything else to do but try. His mind wandered as he thought about Rey and all the things he didn't know about her.

Logically, he knew that tons of people had nightmares. But Ben had never seen anyone have one, much less one like that. And he knew that if watching it had been that scary, whatever she'd actually been dreaming about must have been terrifying. 

Ben did eventually doze off again, but it was the type of unfulfilling sleep that made his head feel heavy and his body slow. He had a long day in front of him, and the last thing he needed to deal with was feeling like a zombie, but there wasn't much he could do about it. After taking a quick shower and dressing in a pair of gray slacks and a red polo, Ben went into the kitchen to find a pot of coffee freshly brewed, but no Rey in sight.

He took his time doctoring up his coffee the way he liked it, hoping she'd make an appearance, but she never did. Eventually he had to leave or else he'd be late for work.

He spared a look toward her room---and at her closed door before grabbing his keys and leaving the apartment. His mind continued to wander to unpleasant things on his drive into work.

When Ben had told his parents he wanted to major in photography when he was a freshman, they'd laughed off the suggestion and told him to get real and grow up. 

So he'd gone into prelaw like they'd decided to for him---and nearly flunked out of school of his first semester. It was then that they'd gotten "real" and agreed to let him change his manor. But when he'd brought up photography again, he'd received stern glares and was told he could pick something in business. 

He'd chosen marketing because it sounded the least brutal, and while his grades had improved, his mood nosedived. He hated everything about school for the first two years.

Then something happened between his sophomore and junior years. Ben grew a backbone. Well, a small one anyway.

He went to school on the first day and changed his major to photography. He hadn't told his parents about the switch, but what was the worst they could do once the semester was underway? He found out the answer to that midway through the semester when his parents had received his interim grades.

Instead of calling to yell at him, his father had shown up in his three-piece suit to confront him outside of his residence hall. But Ben had stood his ground. He wanted to major in photography, and if his parents didn't like it, that was too damn bad. 

His father had agreed that it was too damn bad....for Ben. Because no way in hell was he going to pay for his son to get some "pansy-ass degree" that would leave him "panhandling to earn a living." So it was there, in front of a crowd of Ben's peers, that his father had taken Ben's one and only chance at finishing his education away from him. The semester had been paid, but that was it.

Ben would receive nothing else from his parents until he "came to his senses" so to speak. That had been four years ago, and while Ben still talked to his parents from time to time, their stance hadn't changed. 

When he was ready to become a productive member of society, they would be there to help him. But they got to decide what "productive" meant, and evidently, Ben still didn't qualify in their books. Bo Ben had been busting his ass to prove that he could make something of himself without their help. 

But so far, all that had gotten him was work at a portrait studio that specialized in school pictures, which required him to have another job on the side so he could make ends meet. 

* * *

Ben parked as close as he could get to the small studio and then hurried inside. They needed to load the equipment and get to a middle school and that was about thirty minutes way as quickly as possible. He was mostly quiet through the entire process, including the unloading and setup once they arrived.

"You okay, man?" Dopheld, a fellow photographer asked.

"Yeah. Just a long night."

"I hear you. I was out last night, buying this sexy-as-hell woman drinks, only for her to tell me she doesn't have one-night stands. Can you believe that? I told her she didn't need to stand, and then she threw a drink on me. Women." 

Dopheld shook his head like he couldn't even begin to believe that someone had turned him down. Ben wasn't sure how anyone ever _didn't_ turn him down. Thankfully, he was saved from replying by a heard of preteens plodding towards him. They all gripped their picture forms as teachers organized them into two separate lines. 

The first kid to sit in the chair in front of Ben's camera was a boy in a short-sleeved flannel shirt, and his hair was shellacked down in a way that made Ben wonder if the kid's parents had sprayed it with a whole can of Aquanet. 

"Look up here, please," Ben instructed as he held up his finger over his camera. "Smile."

The boy smiled widely, revealing a mouth fill of hardware. Ben definitely didn't miss those days. The next few kids moved through the process without any fuss. Then a girl walked up, whipped off the shirt she'd been wearing to reveal a neon-pink crop top that said SEXY BITCH and plopped down on the stool.

Ben's eyes widened as he glanced around in hopes that a teacher had somehow caught his girl's outfit. If it cold even be called that. But no one seemed to noticed, which put Ben in a position that was awkward as fuck.

"Uh, are you supposed to be wearing that?"

The girl sneered up at him and gave him an attitude that she shouldn't have been old enough to accomplish for someone her age. "Who are you? The fashion police or something."

"No, I'm just someone with eyes," The words were out of his mouth before his brain even gave him permission to speak. He blamed it completely on the sleepless night. 

The girl, who must have been only about twelve or thirteen years of age put her hand on her hip. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'm not taking your picture while you're wearing that." The last thong Ben needed right now was an irate parent or a ticked-off principal calling his studio because he's snapped a picture of a girl wearing an obscene shirt.

No way was he risking his job for this underage rebel without a cause. The girl scoffed at him. "You're not my dad. You're just some loser who takes pictures. You can't tell me what to do."

He wanted to correct her that he wasn't telling _her_ what do do, but rather saying _he_ wasn't going to do. "Well, this loser isn't taking your picture. Next." he said, a little louder than necessary. 

The girl stood and grabbed her other shirt off the floor, pulled it over her head and sat back down again. "Fine. You're lucky that I don't want Mrs. Jansen to see my shirt or else I'd be losing it on you."

"Yeah, lucky is exactly what I feel," he said as he snapped a picture of her while she was blinking. 

Part of him had wanted to refuse to take her picture at all, but he didn't need the headache. This was honestly the best revenge was going to get. The rest of the day passed similarly, with the majority of the kinds pleasantly and getting their pictures taken, while a few punks seemed to need to prove they were a badass by giving him a hard time.

It was enough to make him jaded with life. By the time he got home later that afternoon, he just wanted to sit on the couch and unwind. But that plan was cut short when he walked into the kitchen to get a drink and saw Rey sitting on the kitchen counter. 

Her eyes lifted to meet his, and she gripped the glass in her hands a bit tighter. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," he replied. Ben had no idea what to say and no mental energy left in him to figure it out, so he went to the refrigerator and pulled it open.

He grabbed a can of soda and turned to head back into the living room, but was stopped when she said his name. Letting out a breath, he looked over at her.

"Can we....talk for a minute?" she asked.

* * *

There wasn't a part of him that wanted to do this right now. Truthfully, despite how harsh dismissal of him had been the previous night, she didn't owe him an explanation. He also had a strong feeling that he might not want to know what it was all about anyway.

But she was looking at him expectantly, and he found himself unable to refuse her, so he learned against the counter a little ways from where she she sat. 

"Sure, that's fine."

She released a shuddering breath before beginning. "I just want to start by saying thank you. I know that I was....kind of nasty towards you last night, but my reaction wasn't anything personal. I just don't like anyone to....see me...like that, and I reacted really badly towards you. So I do apologize, and I appreciate that you were just trying to help me." 

She took a sip of what Ben guessed was water before continuing on. He could tell that she had been thinking about this since he left this morning and didn't want to fuck it up with whatever she was going to say.

"That being said, please don't ever do it again."

Ben leaned in, unsure if he'd heard her correctly. "I'm sorry, what?"

Rey looked mildly frustrated at having to explain herself again. "Look, I've had nightmares for most of my life. Though, I haven't had one in a long time, but I'm used to them. Well, as much as anyone _can_ be used to them, I guess. You coming in isn't going to help anything, so I'd like you to just not bother."

Setting his drink down, he clasped his hands in front of himself. "Well, forgive me when I say that I don't know if I can do that."

"What?" Her tone was indignant, annoyed, even.

"There's no way I can hear you screaming and not check in on you. I'll always be worried that someone is in their killing you or something. I'm sorry, but I can't just ignore it."

"I'm not asking you, Ben. I'm telling you here and now. Leave it alone." 

"Well, I'm sorry," said Ben with a shake of his head. "But that's not going to happen, Rey."

"God, you're so irritating," she said as she leaned down towards him. "I honestly have no idea what I see in you."

Her mood seemed to lifting a little, which surprised him. He hadn't expected his refusal to make him less tense, but that was exactly what it seemed to have done.

"What can I say? It's all part of my charm."

She snorted in response, and Ben knew he could get up and things would be fine between them. But now that she'd brought it up, he was no longer so eager to just let it go.

"Do you want to tell me what you were dreaming about?"

"No."

The word was immediate and emphatic, so he didn't push it any further. "Well, I have to say, I'm glad that you forgot to lock your door, I was worried that I'd have to bust it down." He chuckled softly in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere around them. 

"But I didn't forget."

Her reply made the smile slide right off of his face. "You didn't?"

She sighed. "No. I never lock my bedroom door."

"Can I ask why?"

"Look, it's nothing that you need to know about, okay? It won't affect you for as long as you live here."

Ben just sat there silently and examined her face. As if pressured by his awkward silence, she rolled her eyes and started talking again, hoping it could explain her reasoning for this whole thing.

"I just don't like to feel trapped in small places, okay? So I don't lock my bedroom door, or the bathroom door for that matter, so you may want to knock before going in. And I removed the doors from all the closets in the apartment."

Ben had wondered about the curtains that enclosed the closest in the all and in his room but figured something had gone wrong with the doors and Rey just hadn't replaced them. "Why though? What do you have against doors?" he asked.

"Tons of people besides myself happen to be claustrophobic. This is, like, one of the least weird things about me."

Ben's voice was soft when he replied. "You looked like you were being tortured last night but something I couldn't even see, Rey. It didn't seem like a typical nightmare to me."

She then gave him a challenging look. "So what are you an expert on nightmares all of a sudden, Solo?"

He simply shrugged, because the truth was, he didn't know shit about it. But he did know that what he saw the previous night came from a much darker place that she was admitting. 

Rey pushed her glass away and slipped off the counter. "Either way, it's not a story for today. I have some....quirks. But you won't ever have to explain yourself to me. I'm only asking for the same courtesy in return." 

The curious part of Ben wanted to push, but the rational part knew it wouldn't get him anywhere closer to the answer he was looking for. It wasn't the jovial Rey he'd come to know standing in front of him. No, the person in front of him was presented more of an emotional Fort Know.

If she didn't want to confide in him, he knew she wouldn't, and nothing he said or did would change any of that.

"You got it."'

"Good. Thanks," she said before leaving the kitchen and heading for her room.

Trying to ease the tension between them, he called her name an got her attention just before she disappeared down the hallway. "About you not locking the bathroom....If I hear the shower running and assume that you're naked, do I still have to knock?"

He smirked at her and was happy to see her return it. "Only if you're an idiot," she replied with a saucy grin before continuing on her way.

Ben remained at the table for a few minutes thinking about his confusing yet adorable roommate. 


	9. Chapter 9

“Come on, Ben! Let’s go!” Rey said.

Ben looked over from the counter so where Rey had come out of her room. She put on a second earring—some sort of silver and gold combination of dangly prices that sparkles in the dim light from the kitchen. She was wearing a loosely royal-blue button-up shirt with sleeves that came just over her shoulder. 

As she got closer, he noticed that the material was sheer enough to see her bra underneath, which he supposed was completely intentional on her end. For some reason, nothing about Rey Kenobi struck him as accidental. 

He let his male eyes drift down her body as he took in just how tight her skirt was, and how high her shiny black heels were. Somehow the straps that wrapped around her ankles made her legs appear that much longer. At the very sight of her, the chewing of his Corn Pops slows down almost to a complete stop, but finally he was able to get them down.

“You look...Jesus,” he said, letting the spoon that he was holding drop into the bowl before swiveling the bar stool so that he could face her completely. “You look amazing, Rey. Where are you going?”

“I think you mean “we.” she said with a casual smirk on her face. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Where are _we_ going?” he asked, realizing quickly that he was more than happy to follow her wherever it was she was now headed.

"To a retirement party. There's no way in hell that I can go to this thing _alone._ I barely know anyone."

Ben wondered why that was a problem for Rey. She didn't really strike him as the type of person who'd let appearing solo at an event faze her let alone stop her from making some sort of grand entrance. He was rather hoping that she'd ask simply because she'd enjoy his company, but he didn't want to ask.

"Question? Why are you telling me about this now?"

Rey shrugged. "That's because I decided just a few minutes ago that I wanted to invite you."

Ben just chuckled at her bluntness even though at this point, it really didn't surprise him. "I'm flattered, really, I am. But how do you know that I'm even free for the night to go to this party?"

"Seriously? Ben, you're eating cereal for dinner on a Saturday night, and you're already in that old pair of mesh shorts that I doubt you'd ever wear out in public."

Ben then looked down at this basketball shorts from his senior year of high school. Only small pieces of the navy-blue vinyl letting remained, and the silver mesh had thinned considerably over the years. 

"Okay, fine." he said, rolling his eyes in feigned annoyance. "You do have a point there. So when do we have to leave?"

"In about ten minutes."

Ben widened his eyes at this response. "What! That's not even enough time to for me to take a shower!"

"Sure it is. Most of my showers are less than six minutes. And that's even with shaving. I bet you can be in and out by four."

Ben let out a low sigh that ended in light laughter. "Okay. I'll do my very best. It might be more like fifteen minutes though."

Her dark-red lips slowly turned up into a board smile. "Thank you, Ben." 

"You're so welcome," he muttered in a tone that sounded way more disappointed than he actually really was. 

"I'll wait for you in my room. I think Guy and Baby are arguing about who has to be on top when they have sex later."

"Sounds.....interesting," Ben said, thought he wasn't quite sure that was the right word for what it was. 

"Trust me, it always is with them."

Twelve minutes later, he came out of the bathroom in a black-dress shirt and dark-gray slacks. He was rolling up his second sleeve when Rey's voice caused him to look up from his arm. She couldn't help but chew on her bottom lip at the sight of him. Black was _definitely_ his color---damn, he's so fucking hot!

"Damn son, you clean up nice!" She had a tip of her finger to her lips, and he could practically feel her gaze creeping slowly up his body. His black hair was still damp from his shower, but once it dried, the loose wavy curls would thankfully find their place without needing any real taming to make his hair look like he'd put some real effort into it.

"So how are Guy and Baby?" he asked.

"Guy's totally on top."

Ben laughed before asking. "So, do you think this outfit is okay?" 

He smooth down the front of his shirt to make sure there weren't any more wrinkles in it. He'd bought it into the bathroom with him, hoping the hot steam from the shower would take the place of ironing, which he would've done if he'd had more than just two minutes left to get ready.

"That outfit's more than okay," she answered. She gestured at his body as she spoke. "The way your pants sit perfectly at your hips, slim through the leg until they hit the top of your shoe. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a very strong sense of fashion, Benjamin Solo."

Ben laughed as he walked past her and into the kitchen and grabbed his wallet off the counter. "Thanks. Now, tell me something about this party we're going to." he said before opening door and holding it open for her.

In the cab on the way to the party---which was being held at a local high-end restaurant that been rented out for the event---Rey had filled him on the essentials. An attorney named Sheev was retiring after twenty-five years in the field. Ben wasn't exactly sure how Rey knew the guy, but he figured if she wanted him to know, she would tell him.

"Who should I say who I am?" Ben asked on their walk from the cab to the restaurant. 

"I wouldn't worry about it," Rey said. "I doubt anyone will even ask us."

Ben nodded, hoping that was the truth because he certainly didn't want to say that he was Rey's boyfriend, but saying he was a also a friend of hers also seemed strange because would someone bring a friend to a retirement party?

"So...can you just bring any guest to this?"

"Oh sure! Other people are," she assured him.

Ben took that as a sufficient answer because....well, it was the only one she'd provided. He nodded again and opened the door for Rey to enter. The Italian steakhouse was larger than Ben had expected and seated at least forty people comfortably among six tables dressed with pristine crisp, white linens, which Ben knew he'd most likely get sauce on within ten minutes of his entrée coming out.

Which reminded him...

"Do you by any chance know what the dinner choices are? The place looks like it'll be pretty good," he said, scanning the culinary options around him---a table with an assortment of cheeses, bruschetta, and several other appetizers that Ben couldn't recognize from a distance. 

"No idea what they're serving. My guess is Italian food, given to the fact that we are in an Italian restaurant and all you know?" she said, with a slight smirk on her lips.

"You must think you're pretty witty, don't you?" Ben teased.

Her smile immediately broadened at his comment. "It's very possible, Solo."

"So who is this guy who's retiring?" Ben asked as he made himself a plate. 

"What do you mean? He's just a guy."

"I don't know. I guess it just struck me as strange that you'd go to a retirement party for someone unless you were close to him. I've had like....a million jobs, and I've even yet to go to one of these," he said.

"Well, I'm glad that I get to see you lose your retirement party virginity then," Rey said.

Laughing, Ben looked around at everyone, his neck craning around a woman who was standing nearby. "So which one of these gentlemen will I be giving it up to tonight?" he asked.

Rey just stared up at him but said nothing. That really took her by complete surprise. 

"I took it a little too far, didn't I?"

"Yeah, just a little," she said.

Rey looked around at the tables. Most of the people were already seated, but some were up mingling or taking pictures. She nodded in the direction of three men who were laughing by the bar, but he wasn't sure which one was the guest of honor. 

Though it didn't really matter. He didn't plan to start up a conversation with any of these people, though he'd obviously engaged in one if someone spoke to him. He wouldn't consider him antisocial, but the crowd of professionals--most of whom appeared to have way more money than he had---reminded him more of his parents' acquaintances than anyone he'd hang out with. Or Rey for that matter.

Which only made him wonder what exactly the connection was between Rey and this lawyer.

"So tell me again, how do you know this guy?" Ben asked, unable to tame his curiosity any longer. He followed Rey toward two seats near the end of one of the long tables, and they settled themselves in.

"Oh um..." She dipped a piece of bread into some oil and popped it into her mouth, swallowing completely before answering. "Sorry, but this bread is so amazing," she said. "I worked for him for a little while."

"Oh yeah? Doing what?" Ben was surprised. Working for a lawyer would had to have paid her more than her current job.

Not to mention that it probably required a certain level of education or training that Rey hadn't mentioned when they'd had their discussion about school. And her presence at this party suggested she'd left on good terms. It didn't add up.

"Oh nothing really exciting. Filing things, answering the phones, that sort of stuff."

"So let me guess," Ben joked. "You left when you got an opportunity that you just couldn't pass up, and that's how you found yourself with me at Coffee Delights."

You know it," she said. "The Delight's my dream."

Ben laughed before taking a drink of the wine that had been set in the middle of the tables for everyone to share. "I think it's actually closer to your nightmare."

The second the words left his mouth, he saw Rey tense, but it was soo late to take them back. It was exceptionally poor timing considering what he's learned about her only just a few days ago. He instantly regretted saying anything at all.

"I'm sorry, Rey," he said softly. "I wasn't....I wasn't thinking."

As if by instinct, his hand immediately went to her arm to comfort her, and surprisingly she didn't pull it away this time and that made him feel good. She trusted him. 

"It's okay, Ben," she said. "This night isn't about that. Let's just try and have a good time, okay?""

Ben sighed audibly in relief. The last thing he wanted to do right now was ruin _this_ night too like he had the other one. "Okay," he said, wanting to get back to a more lighthearted conversation. "So you left a gig at a law firm to make caffeinated drinks for stay-at-home moms and overworked professionals. Sounds to me like a solid choice," Ben joked.

"Would you be surprised if I told you how low that decision ranks in the list of ones that I wish I could take back?"

"Nope," Ben said with a small laugh.

"Besides, the Delight's gotten better the last few weeks, actually. It helps when you have someone there you really like and can actually joke around with from time to time."

Her comment seemed sincere, so he wasn't sure why had to ruin the little moment they seemed to be having by saying, "Yeah, I know. I like Phasma a lot too."

Though she shook her head, his joke seemed to amuse her rather than hurt her feelings. "You know, you're pretty witty, yourself, Solo," she said.

"Why, thank you." He pushed his bread plate to the side so he could make room for the salads the servers were setting down. 

* * *

Though Ben would never have ordered a salad with goat cheese, walnuts, and strawberries in it, he had to admit it was damn good. He finished his last few bites and then leaned back in his chair, highlighting the fact that he'd eaten his salad at a rate that was more suited for a ravenous bear than a human being.

He cleared this throat awkwardly as his eyes darted to the people around him who were slowly putting forkfuls of salad into the mouths.

And despite Ben's initial reluctance to speak, he felt the need to say something since he wasn't earing anymore. And that something involved asking all the people around him how they knew Palpatine. Apparently, that was the only question he could think of tonight.

"He's one of the partners at the law firm," the man across from Ben said. "There are five of us in total, and we've all known him for fifteen years," he said, gesturing to the surrounding men and women. "Except of Veronica, who's only been with us for...what? Seven years, is it?"

Veronica shook her head but laughed. "I've been there twelve, Mark. You always do this."

Mark laughed, making his large belly jiggle against the table. He reminded Ben of a red-haired Santa Claus. "Well, it feels like we me just yesterday," he said, "What about you two? How do you know Sheev?"

"Oh, I don't," Ben said. "My....Rey here used to work for him. Right?"

He looked to Rey to expand on the conversation he'd somehow started, but she had her mouth full, so her answer was limited to a nod.

"Is that right? How long ago?" Mark asked. "I can't seem to place you. Thought as you just saw, my memory leaves something to be desired."

Rey's eyes shot to the ceiling as if she were trying to remember when she'd worked there. "A little while ago," she finally said. "Maybe six or seven years ago."

"Huh," Mark said with a shrug. "Sorry. We get so many interns and temps through that place it's hard to keep track of everyone who come and goes."

"Oh, I'm sure," Rey said. "No worries. I can barely remember anyone who worked their either."

"Except Dave, I guess," Veronica added.

"Right, yeah," Rey said. "Most of the stuff I did was related to his cases."

"Oh, okay," Veronica added. "Did you film your part of the video yet?"

"Video?"

"Yeah. His wife's making a video for him, and she wants everyone to say a few words to Sheev in lieu of gifts."

Until Veronica had mentioned gifts, Ben hadn't even noticed that Rey hadn't even brought a sort of "good luck" card with her to this event. 

"Oh. Okay, yeah. I'll find her later and make sure that I record something," Rey assured her. "What did all of you say? I'm never good at these sort of things."

Veronica spoke first, explaining that she talked about much it meant that Sheev made her a partner and that she was going to miss homemade doughnuts on the first Monday of each month. Mark said he congratulated him and told him that if he played golf without him, he'd be very sorry.

Though it was mainly because Mark was so horrible that Sheev would be missing out on a good chance to feel good about his own game---which Marl said was almost as bad as his.

Each person on their end of the table had a story about Sheev or something to thank him for. Ben wondered what Rey would say, but he was sure she wouldn't want him watching while she filmed her reply.

"What about you?" a young colleague named Samantha asked. "What are you going to say to Mr. Belson?"

"I think I'll...." she started. "I'm sorry, but what did you say?"

"I asked you what you're going to say on your part oft he tape?"

"Sheev Palpatine Belson's tape?" Rey said, her eyes noticeably widening. 

Samantha looked oddly confused, and Ben could understand why. It didn't make sense that Rey seemed surprised that the video would be for the guy retiring. 

"Hmm, speak of the devil," Veronica said, nodding to the door where the man had just now come in. 

The applause and cheers that followed his entrance made it obvious to Ben that the man was Sheev Palpatine Belson. He was not one of the men that Rey had pointed to earlier when Ben had asked who the part was for.

But before he could ponder the question any further, he noticed Rey's porcelain skin somehow grew whiter, as if the man's presence had caused a physical reaction in her that she hadn't been expecting.

He couldn't even begin to guess what the hell was going on. She watched him make his way around the room toward their table as he said his hellos.

Slowly, Rey set down her fork and pushed her chair away from the table. Then she turned to Ben. "I'm going to grab a drink from the bar. Do you any anything?"

Ben looked at his glass of wine, which was still half full. "No thanks, I'm good."

"Can I get anyone else anything?" she asked politely.

They all muttered they were okay and no thank you, which was good because Rey didn't seem like she was even focused on any of their answers. And as Ben walked Rey walk towards the bar, he realized there was something he wanted after all--to know how the hell Rey knew Sheev Palpatine Belson.


	10. Chapter 10

Rey took her shot of tequila from the bartender and asked for anther before he'd even turned away. What were the chances of Sheev Palpatine Belson was the lawyer that was retiring? She hadn't seen him in almost ten years. And that felt like a lifetime ago.

She'd been a different person back then---one who needed help from others instead of relying only on herself. And Sheev had been the one to help her.

She hadn't given him much thought since. And now here she was, somewhere in this room, probably no more than fifteen feet away. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him so much as she didn't want to see him with Ben there.

Speaking to Sheev would undoubtedly stir up emotions she'd rather not feel at all, let alone right now. When her friend Emily had suggested this party as one that Rey and Rose should go to, all she'd told them at the time was that it was a retirement party for a lawyer named Sheev. 

Emily hadn't told her his last name, and that wasn't odd. In fact, she rarely ever gave her more than few quick facts about the events. And up until now, it hadn't been a problem.

Over the past seven months or so since Emily had gotten the job at the steakhouse, Rose and Rey had both attended parties here for people they didn't even know at all. Somehow they were usually able to fly under the radar, get some free food, and make it out completely undetected. But that wouldn't be the case tonight.

When Rey had realized that the lawyer this part was for was Sheev Palpatine Belson, she'd run through any and all options that might allow her to escape this cosmic disaster unscathed, but she couldn't come up with anything. And a part of her felt that their presence here together was more than a freaky coincidence. She took the second shot that the bartender had set down in front of her before her thoughts went back to Ben.

She felt bad that she'd left him with the partners at the law firm, but....okay, that was a lie. She didn't feel bad exactly so much as she felt conflicted. Her choices were to stay and talk to them herself or let Ben chat with them. 

And since he'd been the one to begin the conversation, she didn't feel as guilty as she probably should have at leaving him with a group of people he didn't even know. Plus, knowing Ben, he was probably holding his own over there.

Unlike her, he seemed to _enjoy_ talking to people. He was sociable. He was incredibly friendly. He was open. He was warm. Come to think of it, he was all the things that Rey practically wasn't.

He compensated for traits lacked: he was the yang to her yin. The thoughts made her turn toward him. But as soon as she spun around, she caught a glimpse of the only face she should recognize besides Ben's.

Sheev. A few more wrinkles had settled in around his eyes, and his gray hair looked considerable whiter. But his smile held the same warmth it'd held ten years and the sight made the memories of that time flood through her. She was so caught up in staring, she'd forgotten that Sheev might recognize her as well. 

Until his eyes caught hers for a brief moment. At first it was a flash---a quick glance in her direction before he returned his gaze to the man sitting across from him.

But in an instant they were back on her, as if it had taken him a few moments to process the sight before him. The person he'd been speaking to was still talking, but she had a feeling that Sheev had stopped listening. He put a finger up to the man and said something before pushing his chair out and standing. 

Though he'd obviously recognized her, and there was no escaping whatever conversation was coming, she turned toward the bar again, not wanting to even watch him approach--as if facing the opposite direction would allow her some emotional distance she knew deep down that she wouldn't get. She was aware of her shaking leg and the way she spun the cardboard coaster---a clear sign of her nervousness that she didn't do anything to stop it.

"Ms. Kenobi?" Sheev asked, putting a gentle arm on her back before probably realizing the contact might be too much for her and letting it drop down to his side, "Is that you?"

Rey took a deep breath and stood taller, squaring her shoulders before turning toward him. "In the flesh," she answered with a quick smile that didn't show her teeth.

Sheev just shook his head quickly like he'd just seen a ghost and was trying to decide if the image of her was even real. "How are you? God, I've thought about you so many times since the hearing?"

"I'm good," she assured him, and she meant it. Though she was far from what most people could consider normal, she wasn't the mess that Sheev probably remembered her to be.

"That's so good to hear," he said. And he gave her one of those smiles that seemed more out of relief than of genuine happiness or concern. "Tell me what you've been up to. What's it been? Ten, fifteen years at least?"

"Just a little over ten," she answered. "And don't be jealous, but I have two jobs now and barely any money, so not much has really changed for me in the employement department."

Sheev chuckled, but it faded quickly. "Well, as long as you're getting by and you're healthy, that's all that really matters."

Rey nodded in agreement, and the two were quiet for a moment until Sheev spoke again. This time he seemed a little more hesitant. "What about a significant other? Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Do you have anyone that you're---"

"You know that I don't get attached. It's not in me."

"I do. But I just thought that maybe ten years might have changed that," he said, though she immediately recognized the disappointment on his face,

"Well, I'm hoping to bang my roommate really soon if it makes you feel any better." She then pointed to where Ben was seated. "He's the tall, dark and handsome guy talking to some of the people from your firm."

Sheev let out a loud laugh and shook his head in amusement. "I see that you haven't grown a filter in the last decade."

This time Rey was the one laughing. "Some things never change, I guess."

"No, I guess not." Sheev said. And then, "I should probably get back over to my table, but I have to ask....what are you doing here?"

Rey bit her lip if for no other reason than to hold back the smile she could feel trying to escape. She raised an eyebrow before asking. "Do you really want to know the answer to that question, Sheev or would you rather just debate over it while you talk to your guests?"

He seemed to think over her question for a moment before saying. "You know what? Knowing you and how you are, I don't think I do." Then he put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it gently cautiously. "It was good seeing you again, Rey. If you ever need anything, please give me a call, okay? I mean it."

She nodded, but for some strange reason, she found it rather difficult to speak. 

"And I sincerely hope that you and the tall, dark and handsome guy have a good time tonight. Enjoy yourselves." 

* * *

She watched him walk back over to his table, her shoulder falling with relief that she hadn't had to think much about her past and that Sheev had been so accepting of her presence here. Taking a few deep breaths, she prepared herself to go back to the table and act like the universe hadn't just totally fucked with her mind. 

But as soon as he turned toward Ben's table, he was inches away from her. "So what are you doing?" he asked. "You've been gone longer than I thought you'd be."

"Why? Did you miss me already?" She tried to keep her voice light, but she was sure that her facial expression betrayed her. She couldn't let Ben find out how she knew Sheev. She already had enough judgment for a lifetime. 

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did," he said. "But more importantly I thought maybe you missed your old colleagues. I'm a bit surprised that you don't want to catch up with them more. It's been a while since you've seen any of them."

"Yeah, it has. So long actually that they barely remember me at all. I guess I don't make as memorable an impression as I thought." She held up two fingers to the bartender so he'd bring more shots. She'd offer one to Ben, but if he didn't want to drink it...

Well, she'd never been one to let top-shelf liquor go to waste. Sheev did, after all, say to have a good time. Ben studied her for a moment, not even responding when she offered him the shot the bartender had just set down.

"Rey," he said. "I know this probably isn't any of my business, but you asked me to come here, so I kind of _feel_ like it's my business now." He sighed, and Rey could sense the uncertainty in it--like he was unsure about whether continuing was a good idea, but he knew he had to. "Did you really ever work for Belson's firm?"

She hadn't been sure what he was going to say, but this question didn't come as much of a surprise. "Not exactly," she admitted.

It was more like Belson had possibly done work for her. Though she hadn't had the money to pay him, Sheev had offered to help her for free after her caseworker---who'd been an old friend of Sheev's--had reached out to his firm. Ben set the shot back down and crossed his arms over his chest, looking more guarded than she'd ever seen him. But one thing he didn't look was surprised.

"Okay," he said, drawing out the word. "So, I've got to ask," he said. "How do you know Sheev Palpatine Belson?"

"That's just it, I don't," she answered immediately, hoping that her quick response would solidify its truth for him.

His head pulled back in confusion. "What do you mean you don't know him?"

"What do you mean what do I mean? I don't know him at all," she repeated. "It's exactly what I said. I've never seen the guy before tonight."

Ben just shook his head and rubbed his hands over his face. "Really? So you just like....came to some random guy's party."

"Yep, pretty much." 

"I don't get it, Rey. What exactly are we going here if you don't even know this guy?"

Rey smiled as she picked up the shots and handed one to Ben. "Eating and drinking for free," she said. "My friend Emily works here, and she tells me when private parties over thirty or more people are coming in. That's enough that if anyone here wonders who we are, they'll probably just assume we know someone else here."

This would've been the truth if she hadn't happened to know the person who was actually retiring, of course, she'd never tell Ben that.

"Usually my best friend Rose comes with me to these things, but she got stuck working at her job, so you were her stand-in tonight."

"Oh." Ben had been listening to her speak but hadn't responded, and his blank expression revealed nothing about what he was truly thinking. He opened his mouth a few times but closed it each time without saying anything. Finally, he seemed to find the right words. "So you just crash random retirement parties?"

"Basically. Yes," she answered. "Or birthday parties, engagement parties, weddings and baby showers. If she isn't working, Emily tells me whoever is to set two extra places. They always have extra food at these things, so why waste it?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. "We even did a rehearsal dinner one time. That one was a mistake in hindsight. Someone asked me to give a speech....and the bride's father hit on Rose...it was a complete mess."

"Huh. Well, I guess crashing someone's party is a better scenario than what I originally thought was going on."

"And what did you think was going on?" Rey wasn't quite sure she wanted to know, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"I don't know. Like....anything, I guess." He pointed back to the table where the other partners were still seated and enjoying their entrées that had been brought out. "When you left, they said they were defense attorneys, and I thought that maybe---"

"That I needed defending?" Rey raised an eyebrow in amusement.

The gesture seemed to relax Ben, who took a deep breath and let his arms fall down to his sides. "I don't know. I mean I didn't think you murdered anyone or anything."

"Well, neither did the jury."

Despite her serious delivery, Ben barked out a laugh. "Stop," he said. "My thought was totally valid. You brought me to this guy's retirement party, and you said, you worked with him. Then no one remembered you, but you talked to him for like, five minutes, so I just thought--"

"That maybe I had killed someone," Rey said, interrupting Ben's rambling. Though she had to admit, she found it rather cute.

"No! I definitely didn't think you killed someone. Aggravated assault at most," he joked, making Rey smile. "I honestly didn't really think about what the crime might've been. I just thought maybe you needed legal representation for something and Sheev Palpatine Belson got you off."

Rey tried to suppress her smile at his words. "I'm fairly confident when I say that Sheev Palpatine Belson could never get me off."

"That's really nit a visual that I want to think about," he said, making the two of them burst out laughing. When they finally calmed down, Ben's expression sobered a bit, and he leaned against the bar. "So, wait a second, why was Belson talking to you then if you don't even know him?"

"He saw someone he didn't recognize and came to see who I was and what I was doing here."

"Oh shit! Really?"

"Yeah, but don't worry. I used my charming personality to convince him that we should be allowed to stay. He told us to have a good time, so we're totally good."

It was as close to the truth as she could provide at the moment. And most of it was partially true, anyways. She just decided to leave a few things out for her own personal reasons. Rey had been focused on her explanation, but when her eyes went back to Ben's, they seemed to twinkle with something she couldn't quite identify. 

"What?" she asked, suddenly nervous about what Ben's reaction was going to be.

He shook his head. "Nothing. Just you," he said with a laugh that alleviated the tension she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. "You're something else, that's all."

She didn't know what that certain "something else" was, but she had to agree. She _was_ something else, he had just been the first person to ever really tell her that to her face. 


	11. Chapter 11

As the night went on, Ben loosened up and even found himself having fun at a party that he wasn't technically invited to around people he wouldn't otherwise have ever associated with. Not that he did much interacting with anyone other than Rey.

Once they returned to their table and had eaten one of the best meals Ben could ever remember eating in years, they'd had a few more drinks and dessert before heading back home.

By the time they got back to the apartment, they could both barely make it up the steps without stumbling into one another. Or maybe that was only true for Ben. Rey seemed more accustomed to the effects of the alcohol than he did.

It had been a while since Ben had been shit-faced drunk, and the fuzziness inside his head as he carefully ascended the stairs felt unfamiliar. He leaned against the wall outside the apartment as Rey unlocked the door and pushed it open. Then he gestured for her to enter because he wasn't going to let her open the door for him _and_ walk through it before her.

"Wow! Who knew that crashing retirement parties is fun," he said, collapsing onto the couch. "Oooh, we should try a family reunion next. You know really test our skills," he suggested as he thought about how they'd somehow been able to carry on a conversation with strangers.

Rey laughed, but it seemed almost half-hearted and not it's usual up-beat self. "I don't really think I'm ready for that just yet," she said, taking a seat next to him.

Ben looked over at her---studied the way she rubbed her fingers over her thighs like she didn't really know what do with her hands. He also noticed the way that her eyes were focused on the coffee table in front of them. He wasn't sure if she was just a little out of it from all the alcohol or the long night, but he could swear that she was avoiding eyes contact with him.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

This time she looked at him. "Yeah, fine. Why?" she said casually, thought when he saw her eyes, he could tell she looked anything but fine.

There was a blankness to them. Like she was thinking about something far away. He shrugged, unsure of whether to press the issue on further. But she'd opened up the door by asking him why he thought that, so he decided he might as well answer. 

"You just seem...I don't know....distant or something all of a sudden. Did I say something wrong? Or _do_ something wrong?"

"It's stupid," she said.

"It's not stupid of it upset you, Rey. Tell me so at least I'll know not to do it again in the future." It reminded him of when he'd seen Rey having the nightmare, and he wondered if the two were somehow connected by something other than fate. 

Rey was silent, and Ben did his best not to fill it. If she were going to share whatever this was with him, she'd have to be the one to decide to do it. Finally, she sighed. But he wasn't sure that meant exactly until he spoke a minute or so later.

"The family reunion thing," she began. "It's probably the one type of party that I have no experience with. I could probably fake my way through a bris easier than I could a reunion. At least those have an actual focus. I mean, I know the focus is on cutting off a part of someone's penis, but still," she said with an awkward laugh.

Ben remained quiet but took note of the fact that she'd made a joke during what seemed like should be a serious conversation. "Can I ask why you hate family reunions?"

It wasn't that Ben couldn't relate to the dread that accompanied those types of get-togethers, but he had his own personal reasons for disliking them. He guessed Rey did as well.

"It's not that I hate them so much as it is I've never actually been to one."

"What? Like never?" Ben couldn't hide his surprise.

She shook her head. "My family wasn't exactly the sort of family reunion _type_ of people, I guess."

His dark eyes locked onto hers, and he couldn't identify with what he saw in them. There weren't actual tears behind them---at least none that he could make out, that is. But there was indeed some sort of heaviness to them, a weight that him know straight away that Rey had more layers to her than he could probably ever peel back.

But he to try anyway. He wanted her to open up to him. To show him the real Rey Kenobi that his behind the mask.

"What type _were_ they then?"

Rey's head was spinning, and it wasn't from the large quantity of alcohol she had consumed. She could handle way more than six shots she'd had over the course of three hours. But what she couldn't handle was how easy it felt to share things with Ben that she typically kept to herself. 

When he'd mentioned the family reunion thing, it had struck a nerve so deep in her, but she couldn't explain why. She'd accepted her family reunion---or lack of one---when she was a kid. It wasn't like coming to terms with her troubled childhood was anything new.

Still, stilling here with Ben, feeling close to someone for the very first time in as long as she could remember, did things to her that she'd rather not think about.

"They were...." And she struggled to find a way to describe her parents that was truthful, yet didn't reveal every last detail about them. "They weren't exactly around a lot," she finally settled on. 

She had deliberately omitted that the real reason was because they were neglectful deadbeats who'd rather think about where their next fix was coming from than whether their own daughter had eaten an actual meal that day. 

"I'm not close to them."

Ben nodded like he he understood, but she knew deep down that he didn't. And in his defense, she hadn't really given him the opportunity to even try. 

"It it makes you feel any better, I'm not close to mine either," he said.

"Oh yeah? Why?" She suddenly found herself hoping that Ben's parents were pieces of shit, too, so she could commiserate with him, but even she knew that was horrible wish to make. 

She also knew that they'd wanted him to go to college, so the chances of them being complete lowlifes was incredibly slim. "Well, we don't really agree on....well, on anything, now that I think about it." He laughed, but Rey heard sadness in it. "What about you?"

"Same," she said, because there was no way that she could get into all of her personal family shit right now. Or maybe ever.

Her story was raw and mess up and so fucking crazy that it caused a type of pain most people hadn't ever felt. At times, she thought she should've been embarrassed by her own past. But she wasn't. She never had been. Shame hadn't ever been a factor in her decision to keep her history to herself.

* * *

The opposite had been true actually. She felt a kind of pride that she'd been able to overcome such a troubling upbringing, and had somehow come out of the mess relatively free from any real damage. Sure, she was guarded and cautious and exceedingly private.

But those were bandages more than they were scars---mechanisms put into place to protect her from any further pain and hopefully allow her to heal.

At least that was what Shrink One, Two and Three had told her. Even as a small child, her life was one big Dr. Seuss book of psychiatric professionals. 

"My parents didn't really have the time for me, let alone the time to get to even know me," she added, because not only was it the truth, but she also found herself wanting Ben to understand her a little better. And for the first time, she welcomed that human connection with someone.

However, the realization of it all was still a bit frightening to her. She'd been looking down at the floor as she'd spoken, but something brought her eyes up to Ben's.

"Well, that's their loss, isn't it?" he said as he cupped her cheek. "Because I think you're definitely worth knowing."

Rey's lips parted at his words, but it wasn't to speak. The way that he stared at her---like he wanted her, wanted the _real_ her, had Rey feeling vulnerable. And though the emotion was a familiar one, it wasn't how she remembered it. It wasn't threatening or uncomfortable or complicated. 

And as Ben's mouth pressed against hers, she found herself wanting to open up to him in more ways than one. Immediately, her body relaxed into his as he traced his fingertips over the delicate skin of her shoulder and down her arm.

It was sensation that would normally have done unnoticed, but for some strange reason, she reacted to his every touch in a way that felt more than physical. 

Suddenly her whole body was completely on fire, alive in a way that had her gasping for air like she's somehow forgotten how to breathe properly. Ben's mouth was everywhere--nibbling down her collarbone and over her chest as he slipped her shirt over her head in one fluid movement that almost didn't register in her brain.

Her breaths were choppy, needy as he kissed his way down to her stomach, which flexed with urgency. But she didn't want this to feel rushed. She wanted this time to be slow and gradual, a steady climb toward a release she desperately needed.

Her skin tingled at his touch as he dragged her pants down at a torturous pace. He looked amused watching her squirm, her body silently begging him for more. 

Then, hooking one finger under the elastic of her thong enough to graze the area that wanted his attention most, he rubbed her gently. She could feel how wet was, how slick and ready she must have felt on his fingertip before he finally pressed inside her enough to somehow dull the ache she felt without actually satisfying it.

He took his time there, stroking her walls with a shallow touch that had her fantasizing about getting on top of him and riding his fucking hand until she came all over it. When he removed his finger from her, the emptiness she felt was almost unbearable, but thankfully he'd only paused to remove her panties. 

"Too much," she said when Ben's mouth found her clit and sucked hungrily on it. His movements slowed, but they were no less pleasurable, and she had to practically push his head away to keep herself from losing it.

He gave her a few kisses to the inside of her thighs before bringing himself back up so that he could look at her. "I fucking love making you feel like that, getting you so close you can barely stop yourself," he said. "Please, Rey, let me make you cum."

His words weren't as much of a plea as they were a command, and Rey knew better than to resist. As much as she liked the way that Ben teased her with his tongue and fingers, she wanted to feel his cock inside of her. she was ready to do combat just thinking about how good it would feel to have every subtle ridge and vein massaging deep within her, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could wait before she came from Ben rubbing over her.

She thought about how wet the outside of his pants must be from the contact with her slick pussy, and she wondered if he was as ready as she was, barely able to hang on as he ground himself against her.

"Need you inside me," she huffed out, causing a low groan to escape from Ben's lips.

"Say that again," he said.

"I need you, Ben. God....so bad....I'm going..." She wasn't even able to utter the last word before Ben climbed off her, pulled his pants down, and reach for his wallet to withdraw a condom.

Ben finished undressing---first his shirt, one button at a time, and then the rest of his clothing until he was hovering over her, all of him exposed to her. He reached up to grab his cock and slid the condom over it as he held his position above her. God, he had wanted this since the moment he first laid eyes on her. He could barely believe it was happening...now. 

"Ben Solo, I don't think I've ever cum without physical contact before, but just watching you do that may change all of that," she said.

"Hmm, that sounds like a challenge."

He was so hard, and the tip of him was nearly purple as he stroked himself, each stroke, the flick of his wrist was slower and then last one. She wanted that inside her right now. 

"It's not, trust me. Come here," she said, gripping his ass and pulling him down onto her. 

At first, the contact with his skin was enough, but before long she was begging for him to enter her. Thankfully, this time he complied, pressing into her gently, slowly, until he thrust so deep inside that she almost came form the sheer force of it.

Her breath hitched as she drove into her again and again, the head of his cock stroking her slick walls so rhythmically that she could hear just how wet she was for him.

It wouldn't be long before she was pulsing around him, her body shuddering in ecstasy. She dug her fingernails into Ben's back as she struggled to hold off, but it was a futile effort. A few more drives of his hips and she'd plummet into a place that would have her lost in the sensation. 

Ben moaned one of those low moans that had her feeling the vibration from his chest in hers, and when told her to let go, she exploded around him, her walls clenching his shaft so tightly that she was sure that he could feel everything inside of her too.

She watched him intently as he sought his own release: his face straining with pleasure, his lower abs flexing as he thrust into her.

She listened to his heated groans as his entire body shook and he emptied into the condom. He seemed to spasm for an intensely long time, the ecstasy etched across his face. When he was finally done, his eyes opened, and they caught hers for moment before he closed them again, this time more relaxed.

"Jesus Christ, I feel...." he said, breathing hard against her now. "I honestly don't know what I feel."

And for once in her life of confusion, of her rebellious nature, neither did she. Neither did she. 


	12. Chapter 12

"Tell me, if you could be any animal in the world, which would you be?" Rey asked as she leaned against the counter at Coffee Delights. 

Her question had come completely out of nowhere, and it took Ben a minute to process it as he scrubbed down the counter with a rag. "Do you mean which would I want to be, or which would suit me best?"

Though she rolled her eyes at him, the grin on her face belied any real exasperation. "Why do you always make everything so damned complicated, Solo?"

It was a good question. Ben's life had always seemed more complicated that it really should've been, but he didn't that she'd really want to hear about all that---and he wasn't sure he wanted to share it with her just yet---so he said, "Because I like annoying the shit out of you, that's why. And I genuinely don't know which you meant."

"Which fits you best, then," she clarified. 

Pursing his lips, Ben thought about it for a few seconds before he resumed his scrubbing, mostly just so he'd have something to do with his hands. "I honestly have no idea," he said finally.

Stomping her foot in clear agitation. Rey glared at him. "I'm bored as hell, and you're not making it any better for me, Solo."

"And identifying my inner spirit animal would make you feel less bored how exactly?"

"It won't. But it'll prevent me from picturing you naked."

Ben then turned his head so he could look at her. "And why on earth would I want to prevent that? I mean, after all, all of our best moments involved us being naked and fucking," her replied with a small smile he hoped came across like the sexy smirk he intended it to be.

Ever since the retirement party the previous week, Ben and Rey had spent the majority of their free time naked together and fucking the literal dog-shit out each other every second they could. Of course, Ben hadn't counted on this happening, but he had been hoping for it and now, he didn't think they would be able to stop.

"Because if I picture it, I'll want it to happen, and since it's my lifelong dream to serve heaps of caffeine to ungrateful corporate robots, I refuse to do anything that could get me fired from this fine establishment." She wagged a finger at him. "I will not allow you to lead me astray, young man."

"Okay, I get you," he replied before leaning over and whispering seductively into her ear. "Does that mean that I can lead you astray once we get home later?"

"That depends."

"On what?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

She leaned toward him, pushing her boobs together to make her cleavage pop out of her shirt. Since it was almost closing, the place was empty, and Ben was entirely grateful for it, too. For reasons he didn't let himself examine, he didn't want anyone else watching a glimpse of Rey's chest.

The scent of her fruity body wash filled his nostrils as she closed in on him. Her fingers grazed his shirt as they drifted from his bicep to his chest and back again. 

Giving him a sultry look, she whispered. "What animal, Ben?"

"Oh for fuck's sake," he said, which caused her to step back as she laughed. "I honestly don't know, Rey. Which one would _you_ be?"

"A koala bear," she said without any hesitation. 

Ben pondered that for a second before asking her. "Why a koala bear?"

"Well, because they're small and cute and look cuddly, but if they don't want you in their space, they'll claw your face off."

"That's....that's rather violent."

"Hey, sometimes you've got to show a bitch who's boss," Rey explained. 

Ben chuckled. "You've had to show a lot of bitches who's in charge in your life, huh?" he asked as he turned to straighten the coffee cups. Expecting her to laugh, Ben turned toward her when he didn't hear a sound.

She was looking at him, but she definitely wasn't; laughing. "What if I said yes? Would you think any less of me?"

Her question made a thought pop into his mind, and his brain being the way it was latched onto it until he couldn't help but ask about it, even though it wouldn't hell her what she wanted to know. 

"Does it even matter what I think, Rey?" The question came out with a sincerity he wholeheartedly meant. 

She was quiet for so long, he wasn't sure she was ever going to answer him. When she finally spoke again, it was nearly in a whisper. "Yeah, it does."

He turned to face her fully and slumped back against the counter. This question was clearly something she wanted a serious answer to, and Ben wanted to make absolutely sure she knew that he was being straight with her. "No, Rey. It wouldn't make me think any less of you."

"Really? You seemed kind of scandalized when you thought Belson helped me beat a murder rap."

A rumble of a laughed suddenly tumbled out of him at this response. "I wasn't scandalized, Rey. I was just making sure that I didn't have to start locking my bedroom door at night."

Her eyes stayed on him, the serious expression not moving from her face. "I'm not violent though. You do know that, right? There have been times in my life that I've had to do...things. Things that I'm not super proud of, but that were necessary at the time."

It seemed really important to her that Ben understood this about her, though he had no real idea as to why. Especially since it had never occurred to him that Rey was a violent person. A little out there at times, sure. But not aggressive or harmful.

"I know that. I never thought you were."

She studied him for a second before saying. "Okay, just as long as you know that, then I guess---," and turning away before even finishing her sentence, she began to start going through the closing-down procedures. 

Ben stared after her, confounded by, well, pretty much everything about his roommate as usual. Rey Kenobi was something else, truly. She was mercurial and zany and intense and complicated as hell. But she was also oddly slid and intelligent and fun and simple.

Rey Kenobi was an enigma, and Ben Solo found himself wanting to figure her out more than he cared to admit. He wanted to know her more, better. 

* * *

Rey felt that she really needed to get a handle on herself. She'd spilled more to Ben since he'd moved in than she to anyone else since she'd been a kid and had learned the hard way that the things that made you tick were best kept secret from others.

Even Rose didn't know that much about her. Not really, anyways. And Rey liked it that way. Whenever people had heard about what her life had been like growing up, they looked at her differently---started trying to put her behavior into some kind of context.

But Rey liked to think of herself as beyond comprehension. There was no putting the pieces of her childhood together to make a clear picture of who she was an an adult.

She looked nothing like she box she'd originally been packaged in. So she let people see only what she wanted to see and who she was _now._ And they could decide to take her or leave her from there. Most people decided to take a pass on knowing her, and that was completely fine.

Rey wasn't able to handle a lot of different people in life. But she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she wanted to handle Ben. He'd slid into a comfortable nook in her life, and she wanted to keep him there for as long as possible.

Which was why what he thought of her had been so damn important. She'd chased away tons of roommates, but she wanted to hang onto Ben's friendship for as long as she could. 

"Are you ready to go?" Ben asked from behind her. She turned to look at him, and he continued. "Cassian said we could head out."

Cassian was the assistant manager who closed most nights. He was pretty chill and sometimes let them leave a few minutes early so long as the place was prepped for the next morning.

"Yep, I am."

They called goodbye to Cassian before walking out and heading for Ben's car. They were quiet, but it was comfortable between them. At least to Rey, who typically never found herself very at peace with silence. Once they arrived at the car, Ben unlocked her door and held it open for her, closing it behind her after she climbed in. 

He settled into the driver's seat seconds after and began driving them home.

"So are you working at the bar tomorrow night?" he asked.

"Yes. Saturday night too." She usually worked Monday and Friday nights, and Sunday afternoons, but she offered to fill in for another bartender Saturday as well. 

She usually liked having at least one weekend night free so she could pretend that she had a social life, but money was money. She'd been hoping to get more weeknight hours, but the small bar usually didn't get busy enough during the week to need more than one bartender, and those nights were usually worked by the owner.

He'd offered to let her work as a sever if she needed more hours, but that put her too much in the fray. She liked having a bar--or counter in the case of Coffee Delights--between her and the masses.

"Maybe, I'll come by and see you."

"Yeah?" she asked, knowing that he'd heard the delight in her voice at the prospect of Ben paying her a visit while she worked her rounds at the bar. Something about the thought of her seeing him watching her made her excited---happy. 

"Sure, why not? Maybe, I'll be able to drag Finn out with me."

"That'd be cool. I can let Rose know, and he can call her a pizza again," She smiled widely as Ben laughed.

"Yeah, he's a great guy, but I tell you what, he's got no game at all." 

"Oh and you do?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow. 

"Well, since I literally had you offering me to let round second base within hours of me moving in, I'd say that bot plenty of game, sweetheart." 

"Hey, i never said that you could touch them. I just felt bad for you and wanted to throw you a pity flash."

"Okay, if you say so."

Rey's mind wandered as they drove. Something was bothering her, and even though she told herself she shouldn't even bring it up, that was exactly what she did just as Ben parallel parked in a spot near their apartment complex.

"Are you banging other girls, Ben?"

His hand on the steering wheel slipped a little, causing the car to straight out too early, so Ben had to pull out and attempt to park again. When he'd nestled them safely into the spot, he immediately cut the engine and looked over at her.

"Does it change anything between us if I am?"

Rey thought about this for a second and then said. "No. Just as long as you're not using me to cheat on some poor girl who thinks that you're the future daddy of her children."

That answer wasn't _entirely_ true, but it was close enough. Rey didn't particularly love the idea of sharing Ben with anyone else because she was selfish as hell, but she knew she had no real actual claim to him. He wasn't her boyfriend, after all. If he was out laying his pipe every other night, that was totally his business. 

She'd just be extra vigilant to make sure she stayed stocked up on condoms. 

"Okay, good," Ben said before he threw open his door and got out of the car, leaving Rey sitting there dumbfounded. 

He stood on the curb and looked at her through the windshield, probably wondering why she was still sitting in the car, so she hurried out and fell into step behind him. They made it halfway down the block before she threw her hands up into the air.

"Jesus Christ, Ben are you going to answer my question or not?"

"I thought I already did."

"Ben, I swear to God....I don't want to have to shank your ass out here in the middle of the street and leave you for dead, but I will! I swear I will!" 

She saw his shoulders shaking in her periphery and knew that he was laughing at her, like usual. The _fucking_ asshole.

"And here I thought you said that you weren't violent," he said through his laughter. "Perhaps, I overestimated you."

"I'll make an exception for you."

Out of nowhere, he slung an arm around her and pulled her close as they walked. "What's the matter with you? Don't want to share all this hotness with anyone else?"

"Well, now I wish that I could just give you to someone else."

"That's not true," he taunted.

"Did you take ecstasy home at some point between work and here? And if so, why the hell didn't you share?"

Laughing again, Ben pulled her even closer to him. "Now you know damn well that I always share," he said suggestively.

"Yeah? With how many other women?"

Ben pulled back a little so he could look into her eyes. She wasn't sure what he was looking for as he studied her face, but his smile morphed into something smaller and sweeter. "None, Rey. I already have my hands full of you. Why would I want to share that with anyone else?"

His answer caused a burst of warmth to rush through her, though she did her best to hide it from him. "Not yet, you don't. But as soon as I get you into that apartment, your hands will definitely be full of me." They shared a smile, but the moment felt incomplete somehow.

So Rey said the only thing she could think of. "My hands are full with you too, Solo.."

And from the way that Ben suddenly squeezed her shoulder, she assumed that he was beyond happy to hear it. 


	13. Chapter 13

Ben felt like his skin could barely contain the want that was coursing through him. It was almost how he felt when he was behind the lens of a camera, out in the world, exploring beauty that was so easy to take for granted when you didn't stop and look for it.

And as he spun on Rey when she closed the door to their apartment and crowded her with his body, he was so fucking glad that he'd stopped to look closer. 

That he hadn't dismissed her as some goofball he worked with. Because even though he hadn't known her long, he did know that there was so much _more_ to Rey than he could ever have imagined. And despite the fact that she'd probably never want to tell him any of it, he was drawn to it as he was to her, nonetheless. 

"You drive me fucking crazy, you know that?" he whispered against the skin of her neck as he nuzzled into her.

She laughed huskily. "It's a short drive with me, usually."

His lips curled into a smirk as he kissed along her jaw. When he pulled back, his eyes locked with hers, and he found himself unable to look away for a minute. After a beat, her eyes slid closed, and he put his lips on hers in a kiss full of passion. 

He cupped her cheek, tilting her head so that he could have better access. Then he let his tongue push into her mouth, her moan vibrating through him as if it had a direct line to his cock.

She wrapped her leg around his thigh as if she was trying to climb him as if he were a tree, so he took the hint and hoisted her up. "Need....naked....now." Her words came out in harsh pants.

"Your place or mine?" he asked her. His hands were kneading her ass as he sucked and nipped along her throat.

"I...I...want....Christ," she gasped and speared her hands into his soft, thick black hair and pulled gently. When he was looking at her, she continued. "I can't fucking think with you doing that!"

"Sorry," Ben said, though he knew his tone told her he was anything but sorry. She gazed at him for a second, her lips pursed like she was mulling over something rather important. "Do you want me to stop?" he asked, her hesitation making him unsure.

The rather appalled look that suddenly appeared on her face was enough indication that, that was not something she wanted. But the, "what are you fucking insane, Solo?" she yelled at him also helped chased his doubts away.

"Then why are you doing that weird thing with your mouth?"

She smirked. "Oh, baby. O can do _tons_ of weird things with my mouth. If you're extra nice to me, I'll show you sometime."

His dick, which had flagged a bit, really like the sound of that answer. It ached with painful contractions to show it just exactly what she could do with that mouth of hers. 

"I don't want to have sex in either of our bedrooms," she said.

"Okay." Ben waited for her to continue.

She released a deep breath before speaking again. "If you think it's too weird, we don't have to. It's just something I've always wanted to do, and I thought....maybe...you'd be uo for...."

"Just spit it out, Rey. Tell me what you want."

"Remember later that you told me to spit."

"I'm seriously going to drop you on your ass right here, right now, if you don't tell me what you want."

"God, you're so salty, Solo," she said as she tightened her grip on his neck. "Let me whisper it to you instead." She leaned in, nipping at his earlobe before saying. "I want you to fuck me on my Kama Sutra tiles."

And his cock was fully back with the program. "Yes. Let's do that," he replied quickly as he began carrying her towards the bar top that separate the living room from the kitchen.

He dropped her onto it and then urged her to lie back so that he could climb on top. He rocked against her as he kissed her deeply. Clothes began flying in every direction as they ripped them off one another. But before Ben completely shucked his pants, he reached into them and withdrew a condom from his wallet. 

"Like a fucking Boy Scout, you are," Rey said.

"With you around, I'm not taking chances of unprepared," Ben ducked his head for a second before refocusing on her.

"Well, just so that you know, I've been tested since the last guy that I messed around with and have an IUD. If the same goes for you, maybe we could...."

She didn't even get the chance to finish her sentence, but Ben couldn't help but tease her a little. "I'm afraid that I don't have an IUD."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Just forget I even said anything."

He dipped down and kissed her long and hard before drawing back and looking her dead in the eyes. "I've been tested since my last partner too."

"So do you wanna?" she asked.

Caressing her skin at her hairline with his thumb, Ben said, "Say what you want from me, Rey?"

She huffed. "You're so damn annoying, Ben. Fine, do you want to fuck me bare? Because I really could---"

Her sentence was cut off by Ben's lips on hers because he couldn't keep them off her. Kissing her was easy, being able to keep his hands off her was even harder and he had proved to be a failure at it. 

Ben grinned against her mouth. "You trust me that much?"

"I think I trust you maybe a little too much," she whispered softly against him.

"No, I think you trust me just the right amount," he said before dipping his head so that he could lick and suck on her nipples, which caused her back to arch completely off the edge of the counter.

"Need you in me, Ben," she whimpered.

Ben guided himself into her with one long smooth motion. He thrust into her as his fingers toyed with her nipples, and she writhed beneath him like she was trying to simultaneously get away from him and also pulled him deeper inside her.

Ben looked down at the tile beneath her, and the dueling erotic sights cause his balls to draw up tight. He wasn't going to last very long, and he needed her to catch up with him.

His hand drifted down her body until it reached her clit. As soon as he made contact with it, she bucked harshly against him.

"Fuck, yes, Ben! Right there! Right there, please!"

He continued to play with her clit as he drove into her, his hips pumping wildly as his orgasm rest on a great precipice. Two more hard thrusts and he was hurtling over it, his release slamming through him and emptying into her in large amounts.

Her slick, warm walls felt amazing around his sensitive cock, but he couldn't let himself bask in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

Scooting backwards, he licked a trail down her stomach before he arrived his final destination and began lapping at her clit. She thrust her hands into his hair, holding him in place even though he had no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. 

He pushed into her with two fingers as his tongue continued to flick at her sensitive bud. He darted his eyes up to see the ecstasy on her face. He watched as her shoulders lifted off the tile and her entire body shook with her orgasm. He felt her wetness envelop with his fingers. 

It had his spent cock twitching again, but he ignored it to climb back up her body and press soft, feather-like kisses everywhere that he could reach.

Her chest rose and fell quickly as she tried to catch her next breath. He planted his elbows on either side of her head and looked down at her. He knew the smile on his face looked smug, but he didn't give a flying shit. He was happy and he knew for a moment that she was too.

"Are you proud of yourself?" she asked with a breathless smile of her very own.

Ben shrugged his reply, but his smile just few even wider. Yeah, he was proud all right, and why shouldn't he be? He just had the most mind-blowing sex not once, but twice with this amazing, yet maddening young woman. Why shouldn't he be feeling all the things he was feeling right now?

"Well, you sure as hell should be, Solo. I bet these tiles learned a thing or two tonight."

Ben buried his face into her neck and laughed like he couldn't remember ever doing after sex before. It was cathartic in a way that he never would've expected. Though he guessed being with Rey in any capacity was likely to have that effect on him.

Not that he'd ever tell her that.

* * *

Rey had been busy since she walked into Star-Killer's Bar. There had evidently been some kind of softball championships for grown men earlier in the day, and they'd all decided that Star-Killer's Bar was the perfect place to end their failed attempt at recapturing their lost youths. Rey was never more thankful to have a bar between her and the crowd of people since she only came up to mid-gut on most of the softball players.

And the more pitchers of beer they had, they more they leered over at her. She really hoped she didn't have to junk-punch anyone before the night was over.

As she filled an order of Bud-Light pitchers and shots of tequila, her eyes snagged on Ben who was sliding onto a stool at the bar with Finn. She held up a finger to them and carried the drinks over to the cocktail waitress to deliver.

"It's insanely packed in here tonight," Ben said when she finally reached them.

"It's been like this all night. I'm about to pull down the damn fire alarm to clear some of them out."

Ben laughed. "That'd only clear some of them?"

"Yeah, the regulars who come here often know better than to give up their seats unless they hear actual sirens."

Even though Ben was laughing, Rey wasn't kidding. Kenneth Snoke, the owner of the bar, had actually installed a fake fire alarm and didn't alert first responders in case a fight broke out or some other emergency. Rey was sure that it was illegal as hell, but it served its purpose.

"So, what can I get you guys?"

"What do you have on tap?" Finn asked.

Rey ran through the list of the five beers and then recited the twelve more they offered in bottles. Both guys ordered lagers in a bottle, which was enough for Rey. 

"Can you start us a tab?" Ben asked.

"If I could I didn't plan on colleting payment in sexual favors later," Rey replied.

Finn nearly choked on his beer as he attempted to prevent himself from spitting everywhere. Shit, Rey suddenly thought. Maybe Ben didn't want Finn to know that they were having casual sex on the side. 

"Sorry, Finn. I was just....kidding?" she said as she looked over at Ben for some guidance on how to handle her big mouth.

Ben just smiled and took a sip of his beer before saying, "Honey, if you were kidding, I'm going to be very disappointed."

A huge wave of relief swept through her at his words. While she would've understood completely if Ben wanted to keep their arrangement private, it made her feel good that he didn't mind in the slightest if his best friend knew.

"But really," Ben said, his smile now gone. "Start us a tab. We don't want you to get into trouble." 

The reality was, Kenneth was cool with his bartenders giving out some free drinks to their friends as long as they didn't abuse the priveledge and the friends didn't order top-shelf shit. But she didn't want to argue with him, so if Ben wanted a tab, she'd start him one. Finn's eyes ping-ponged between them as if he was trying to figure them out.

Since it wasn't Rey's place to fill him in on any more than she already accidentally had, she excused herself to tend to some other incoming patrons.

She was restocking the beer cooler when she heard someone say, "Jesus Christ, what does a thirsty broad got to do to get a drink around here?"

"Walk into the men's room and get down on her knees the way I hear it," Rey replied without even looking up at the voice that she knew so well.

Rose chuckled. "The crew in here tonight looks like they couldn't find their dicks with an extra hand and map even if they wanted to."

"Well, then, I guess you'll just have to help them out then, won't you?" Rey said as she made room for the last bottle, and then looked up at Rose and Emily. "Can I get you anything, Em?"

Rose squawked. "Hey, what about me?"

"I already know what you want, lush." Rose rarely ordered anything other than a margarita when she went out unless she was celebrating something or was severely depressed. 

"I'll just have a Cosmo, thanks," Emily said. 

"Okay. I'll deliver them over there." She pointed to where Ben and Finn were sitting.

"Oooh, you didn't tell me that Finn the Pizza was going to be here tonight," Rose drawled.

"Who?" Emily asked.

"You had to be there to get it," Rey said to Emily. "And I did say that Ben was brining a friend," she added to Rose.

"But you didn't tell me that it was hot Finn. Hmmm...." Rose tapped her lips with her finger. "I wonder if he'll let me scream a different name in bed."

"I feel like you're skipping a lot of steps there, Rose," Rey said, eyeing Rose as Rose eyed Finn.

"And what steps are those?" Rose asked absently.

"You know like the one him remembering who you are and all that."

Rose saved her off. "Such unimportant details."

Emily and Rey shared a looked before amused smiles spread across their faces. It was rather hard not to be entertained by Rose Angela Tico. When was the life of the party and could very easily make a stir if she really wanted to and that's just what she planned on doing from the looks of it. Poor Finn, he had no idea what he was in for.

"Well go and say hi to him while I make your drinks," Rey said. She watched as the two women approached Ben and Finn and then set about mixing their cocktails. When she plopped them down on the bar in front of her friends, she said, "So has everyone here met Emily?" She gestured toward her red-haired friend as she spoke.

"We have now. I was just thanking her for inviting me to crash that party," Ben said with a smirk. Sexy-ass bastard!

Rose's affronted face tore her attention from Ben. "Excuse me, but you went to the party without me?"

"Yeah. You even said that you couldn't go."

"Well that means that you can't go either!"

Rey eyed her best friend. "That's clearly not what it means since I went after all."

"You're such a terrible friend, Rey Kenobi, you know that? That was _our_ special treat, together, as in, you and me!" Rose said as she pouted. 

"And speaking of bad friends," Finn said, cutting in, "I watch that show you mentioned. What in the hell does that girl see in that guy? He's an awful excuse for a human being!"

Rose blinked at him for a few seconds before her elbow down on the table and resting her chin on her hand, her dark-eyes glossed over. "I think you're like my soul-mate or something!"

Finn looked almost stunned before a shy smile crept over his face that he tried so hard to hide by taking a sup of his beer.

"REY!"

She turned around at the sound of her name being yelled to see the other bartender, Dopheld holding his hands up with an exasperated look on his face. "I need you to get back to work before Kenneth goes postal. I'll stop back in a bit to give you a hand, I've got to refill the ice!"

Returning to work kept her busy, but it didn't stop her from sneaking glances over at her friends repeatedly throughout the night. They looked like they were having a great time, and it made her a little jealous that she couldn't be having the same fun with them.

Rose seemed to be hanging onto Finn's every word---an action that seemed to be completely mutual on both parties. And Emily and Ben were gabbing with a few people sitting near them. 

Finally, around midnight, the crowd thinned out a little, and she got to spend a little more time talking to them. Her friends had just taken another round of shots when Rose stood up. "Phew, okay, this girl's had enough. Finn, your place or mine?"

Rose's words made Rey remember at time she'd uttered the same extra phrase to Ben. The memory itself turned her on a little. Finn looked gobsmacked as his head shot around to look at all of them before returning his gaze to Rose. "Um, I have a roommate."

"Is he a heavy sleeper?"

Nodding, Finn responded. "Total snorer. I can hear him all the way down the fucking hallway most of the time."

"Your place it is then. One of my roommates stays up late drawing chalk pentagrams on our hardwood floors---landlord was _not_ happy about that!"

Rose dropped two twenties on the bar and then grabbed Finn's hand to pull him toward the door. It caused Finn to frantically pull cash out of his wallet before stuttering out quick goodbyes to the rest of them.

"This is way too much," Rey called out after them.

"It's for getting me laid," Rose called back, making a bunch for the customers turn to stare at them.

"She's....forceful," Ben said with a laugh.

"Oh you have no idea, Solo," Rey replied. She looked over at Ben, and their eyes caught one another, holding one another's stare as if in a trance or sorts---thinking the same exact thing.

"And I think that's my cue to leave too. I gave to work brunch tomorrow." Emily rolled her eyes as she spoke.

"You want me to call you a bad?" Rey offered.

"To do what? Drive me two blocks to my apartment?" Emily countered.

"You're not walking by yourself at this time of night," Rey said, her tone serious and unbending. 

"Okay, mom." Emily teased, grabbing her purse and hoisting it on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll walk her back," Ben said as he quickly drained his last beer. "Then I'll come back and keep you some company until you leave. I don't mind."

Rey looked down at her watch. "But that's still an hour and a half from now," she warned him.

He shrugged. "Well, it's not like I nothing else to do with my time, anyways. Really, it's no big deal."

Emily asked him how much was stilled owed on their tab, and Rey replied. "You know that I only charge you girls twenty each. Rose already took care of your portion anyways. Don't worry about it, all right?"

Fishing a bill out of her purse, Emily handed it over. "Nah, that was her payment to the pimp," Emily laughed at Rey's low groan.

"Can I settle when I get back?" Ben asked.

"When we get home, you mean?"

Ben looked at her with impatience she was pretty damn sure was an act on his part. "Stop being difficult, I can hold your tab for you," Rey said instead of teasing Ben any further.

She'd only rung up every other drink, so the last thirty dollars Finn had absently thrown down covered it anyway, but part of her knew that having a tab opened guaranteed Ben would come back. Not that she doubted his word, but she'd learned early on in life that it was always good to have a little insurance.

Emily gave her a small wave as Ben shot her a quick smile. She stood there and watched them walk out, wondering how she'd managed to snag such a decent guy as her roommate. She was sure that fate would eventually intervene and fuck it all up for her, because that was how her life usually went, anyway.

But for now, Rey was going to enjoy having a good man sharing her apartment and bed, and who also fucked like a stallion.

She turned back to the customers, silently acknowledging that his was probably the happiest she'd ever been in her life. And that fact simultaneously thrilled and scared the fuck out of her. 


	14. Chapter 14

Ben walked slowly back to the bar, enjoying the crispness of the evening. He and Emily had exchanged some small talk on her way back to her apartment---a walk that literally took less than ten minutes to be exact---and she thanked Ben profusely for accompanying her.

Not a single part of Ben had minded walking back with her. It prevented him sitting at the bar by himself for quite as long while he waited for Rey to finish up. 

He hew he didn't have to wait for her. Rey managed to get herself home every single night that she worked. But there was something appealing about walking home to their apartment together. Maybe, somehow he could turn it into some kind of extended foreplay.

The thought made his dick pulse with arousal and his heart pound inside his chest. The need to be around her constantly----it was something he couldn't quite explain.

When he arrived back at Star-Killer's Bar, he noticed the crowd had lessened even more since he'd gone.

"Hey there, I saved your seat," Rey said when she saw him.

Ben skid onto the barstool and looked at the glass of water Rey had set there, presumably to save his spot. "Thanks."

"The walk go okay for you?"

"Other then mugging and gang war we got caught in, yeah, sure, it was fine. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy!"

Rey just shook her head at him. "You're such a smartass, Solo. You want another beer?"

"Nah, you'll be carrying me back home if I do. I'll just drink the water."

"Okay. I need to start cleaning up so that we can get out of here, otherwise we'll be sleeping at this bar."

Ben nodded before looking around the place. "Hey, where'd the other bartender go?"

"Oh he was first off. Since it slowed down, Kenneth sent him home early. Kenneth's back in his office if we need him for anything. I suspect he'll be counting the register soon."

"Okay."

"You know, you really don't have to stay here if you don't want to. You must be tired." 

Ben shrugged. "I know that I don't _have_ to, but _I want_ to."

Rey smiled up at him. He couldn't help the feeling that they were shamelessly flirting with one another, even though neither of them had said anything remotely provocative. Score one for foreplay. He watched her move effortlessly around the bar, wiping things down, straightening bottles, washing glasses, and all the other things that went into shutting down the place down.

There were still a few stragglers at the bar--regulars, Ben would guess by the way the remaining staff joked around with them. There was also a fairly large group by the pool tables that kept ordering drinks from the cocktails waitress, who Rey had introduced as Dana.

"These assholes keep ordering one drink at a time," Ben overheard Dana say to Rey.

"Okay, take them this one, and then I'll call it."

Dana nodded and took the Captain Morgan and Coke to the group. Once it was delivered, Rey yelled. "Last call, everybody. We're closing up shop!"

"We still got half and hour before closing time," one of the guys yelled back at her.

"Yep, half and hour to nurse down one more drink," Rey called back as she continued to do what she needed behind the bar. 

"That's total bullshit! We're not ready to go home yet."

"I didn't say that you had to go home. Plenty of after-hours places in the city you can get shit-faced in," Rey returned, still keeping her attention away from the pool table.

"Just forget her, Al. We'll leave when we're good and ready to go," one of the others said.

Ben gripped his glass of water a little tighter than he probably should have. He swore he could hear the glass crack slightly under the force of his right hand, hell that's the last thing I need, a trip to the ER for a bloodied hand. But _dammit_ , these guys standing by the pool table were starting to piss him the fuck off. 

"Where's that fucking waitress? I want another drink," rang out another guy's voice from the direction of the pool table.

Ben saw Dana deflate and start in their direction, but Rey waver her off. "Don't worry, I got it."

His eyes widened as he watched Rey round the bar and make her way over to the guys. She had to pass him on the way, and Ben reached out and tugged on her wrist. "Do you want me to go over there with you?"

A slow smirk overtook her face at this question. "Not unless you want to piss them off." 

"Well, no, I don't want that. Not that I really care if they're pissed off already, but I just don't want--"

"Ben," Rey interrupted.

"Yeah?" 

"I've got this. But you're cute when you're worried---it's a good look on you."

Ben scoffed. "But I'm cute all the time, or at least that's why you're always telling me."

"That's very true. Calm down, big boy. I'll be right back."

Trying to watch Rey out of his periphery without appearing like he was staring over at the group of dickheads was a little difficult, but Ben somehow managed. The sound of balls clacking together, followed by one down a pocket, filled the room. "So what do we have here? A pool shark?" Rey asked them.

"Yeah, he just wishes," someone joked.

"Don't we all. Then I wouldn't have to have a group of guys trying to make my life difficult," Rey responded. 

"Aw, come on darling, we're not trying to do that. We're just having a good time. You can't be mad at us for that, now can you?"

"Well, that's good and no I can't. I'm really glad that you guys had a nice night. Why don't you tell me what else you want to drink, and then I'll have Dana close out your check?"

"Are you trying to get rid of us?" one of the guys said with a teasing lilt in his voice.

"Yes," Rey replied, which made all the guys laugh. "Unfortunately, that's how it works here in this little bar you all like to come to. Some of us need sleep, because some of us have other jobs to get to in the morning, so please, for me?"

"Okay, sweetie, since you are being so nice about it, we'll close out." 

"Thanks, guys."

Rey returned to the bar and picked right back up with what she'd been doing before. Quite a few scenarios had played out in Ben's mind for how he thought that interaction was going to go and all of them ended with the police being called. 

He couldn't believe the guys had backed down as soon as Rey had gone over to them. Though the more he thought about it, the more he understood.

Rey had an air about her. a confident you're-not-going-to-get-one-over-on-me-so-don't-even-bother-trying air. She was somehow charismatic and intimidating. Those guys had probably been drawn to her while all the same being unwilling to tick her off. 

It wasn't more than ten minutes later that the group abandoned the pool table and headed for exit. 

One guy, a fairly tall guy wearing a dark green Henley shirt, detoured over towards the bar and leaned his forearms on it. Rey looked up at him. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah, actually I do. I was hoping to get your number. Maybe I could...uh...take you out sometime for dinner or a movie or both?"

Rey smiled, but Ben was more than happy to note that it didn't reach her eyes. "Sorry, but I'm already someone else's sugar mama."

Ben's eyebrows shot up in surprise at her reply. Only Rey Kenobi would say some shit like that---but he was thankful for it in a way. He didn't like some random stranger hitting on her like that. The whole thing.....unsettled him.

Green Henley guy laughed. "I guess, it's my loss then."

"Yeah, I guess so."

The guy knocked on the bar with his fists before making his way back over towards the door with his friends. "All right, you two. That's your cue to leave," Rey said to the remaining guys at the bar.

"What about him?" one of them asked as he tilted his head in Ben's direction.

"He's my personal bodyguard for the evening," Rey replied. When neither man made any attempt to move, she sighed loudly. "He's my roommate. He stuck around to walk me home. Now go away so that I can lock up."

Both men quickly rose and grabbed their jackets from the backs of their chairs. "You know we've got to watch out for our favorite bartender."

"Yeah, yeah, you just say that to get free drinks," she teased.

"You know it," one said with a laugh before they both waved goodbye and left. Rey followed them and locked the door behind them. "That's Ned and Carl," she explained when she back to Ben's side again. "They always wait with me until all the customers are gone. Not really sure what they think they're going to do if something did happen. I'm pretty sure that my boobs weigh more than either of them."

Ben just laughed. "Well, that's nice of them to do that, though."

"Yes, it is," Rey said softly. She emptied her tip bucket, counted it quickly, and then yelled for Kenneth.

The older man popped out of the back a minute later. "How much did we get?" he asked with his hand outstretched.

"One fifty," Rey said as she handed her tips over.

Kenneth went and opened up the register. "Everything okay here tonight, Rey?"

"Yep, we're good, sir."

"Good." Kenneth put the smaller bills in the register, and then oulled out a stack of bills and counted some off. When he was done, he closed the register and handed the money over to Rey. "Be safe, you hear me?"

"Always," she said with a warm smile. She slipped the bills into her purse before looking over at Ben. "You ready to go?" she asked.

"Whenever you are."

"Let's go then. Have a goodnight, Kenneth."

"You too," he replied before he went back behind the bar.

Ben followed Rey out into the night. It seemed a lot darker than when Ben had returned after dropping Emily off. He looked up and saw that it was cloudier than it had been earlier. "Oh shit," he said as he stopped dead in his tracks.

"What?" Rey asked.

"I completely forgot to settle my tab." 

Rey grabbed his sleeve and yanked him hard. "Finn left more than enough. So don't worry about it." 

"I need to tip you least."

"Oh, you're going to give me a tip, all right." 

A short burst of laughter erupted from Ben. "God, you're such a pervert!" 

"Totally and the last I checked...you love it," she said with a small laugh of her very own.

At that precise moment, Ben felt a large drop of water hit his head. "Oh don't fucking tell me," he muttered. Seconds later, the skies opened up, and Rey and Ben found themselves caught up in the middle of a downpour. "Should we try to get a cab?" he asked over the torrent.

"Are you crazy? We're only three blocks away. Let's make a run for it." Rey grabbed his hand and threaded their fingers together as they began to run down the sidewalk.

Ben easily kept pace with her shorter stride, though his breath was still choppy due to the simple face that neither of them could stop from laughing. They reached their building breathless, drenched, and smiling at one another.

Ben unlocked the outer door and threw it open so they could quickly dive inside. Their laughter filled the quiet hallway as they dripped puddles on the tile floor. Ben ran his hands through his hair, squeezing the excess moisture from it. He then looked over at Rey, who was wringing out her shirt.

Their gazed locked, and the laughter slowly died down. It was immediately replaced by a searing heat despite the fact they were both freezing. Before he even had time to think about, Ben was on her, pushing her back against the wall and devouring her mouth. 

When he trailed kisses down her neck, she gasped. "I swear, you do the hottest shit to me, Solo." 

She gripped his black hair and forced his head so they could kiss each other again. Ben lowered his hands to her ass and hoisted her up into his arms, which prompted her to wrap her legs around his waist. 

He ground his hard cock into her as she gyrated against him. Jesus, it was like grinding against hard steel--that's how hard he was. She _needed_ that hard steel inside her.... _now._

"Upstairs," she panted against his neck. "Going....get....arrested if we stay down here."

Ben gave her one more deep kiss before dropping her legs and giving her a hard swat on the ass. "After you, then."

"The _hottest_ shit," she muttered as she then darted up the steps.

Ben followed closely behind her, but was careful not to touch her. When he got his hands on her again, there was no way in hell he'd be able to take them off again until they were both breathless on whatever surface she wanted him to fuck her on.

Opening the door tested Ben's patience since Rey intentionally dropped the keys twice before finally unlocking it. Ben kicked it close behind him as his hands reached for Rey.

Their lips fused together as they ripped wet clothes from one another's bodies and let them _thawp_ onto the floor. Tracking water through the apartment wasn't even a concern at the moment for either of them.

"My room," Rey said, and that was all the direction Ben needed.

He backed her that way as he divested her of any remaining clothing and began groping and kneading her flesh in a way that demonstrated his rabid desire for her. She plopped back on the bed and he quickly lowered himself there. There was no waiting, no build-up.

Ben needed to be inside her like he needed his next breath. He settled between her thighs and pushed into her in one long, smooth thrust that left her moaning beneath him.

"Harder, Ben! Fuck, please, fuck me harder," she begged.

Ben sat back on his heels and lifted both of her legs, pressing them toward her chest before he set a rougher rhythm, pushing and withdrawing from her quickly and fluidly. Her one hand reached for her pillow, and she grasped it tightly as she groaned in pleasure.

The other caressed her breast and tweaked her nipple. There was nothing sexier than Rey touching herself while she rocked with his thrusts. The sight alone was almost too much for Ben to take.

"I'm close," he warned.

"Me too," she whispered. "Me too, Ben."

He pumped his even faster, hoping to get her to crest the peak before he did. Seconds later, she was yelling out her orgasm, her nails raking down his abdomen. He rode her through it before his pace stiffened, and he pushed into her as deeply as he could as his own release shot out of him. _God, just let me cum inside her forever, please,_ Ben thought as he continued to feel his cock pumping its thick load into her warmth. 

He rocked into her gently until his cock was milked completely dry. Slowly slipping out of her, he left his body fell forward, though he was extra careful to brace himself on his elbows to keep from crushing her under his dead weight.

After a few minutes, Rey smiled up at him. "That was quite a tip," she teased.

"I've never gotten any complaints before," he replied before he lazily kissed a laughing Rey beneath him.


	15. Chapter 15

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Damn, at this rate these things are never going to dry," Ben pulled from the fire escape in Rey's room. Their clothes had been outside since last night and they were still pretty damp.

"What?" Rey yelled from the shower. "What's the matter?"

Ben walked toward the bathroom, peeking his head through the doorway. He had to admit he liked that Rey had taken the liberty of leaving the door open when she showered lately.

She'd told him that she couldn't stand the way the small room steamed up whenever the door was closed, but he liked to think it had more to do with the fact that whenever Ben walked by, he's catch a quick glimpse of her reflection in the mirror, all wet and warm.....

It made the urge to strip down and join her that much harder for him to resist. Suddenly, Ben remembered he was supposed to be talking about something else, but watching Rey rub body wash over her breasts and stomach and moving ever so slowly down to the most intimate part of her had caused all thoughts of anything else to completely vanish.

However, seeing Rey's clothes in a pile on the bathroom floor made his memory come back to him. "I said that our clothes are never going to dry out there."

"How's that even possible? They've been out there for over a day."

"Well, but it was a little chilly last night, too."

"Oh yeah. That's true."

"Plus, it's still overcast outside right now. My jeans are still pretty wet. And the white shirt you had on looks like it's getting rust stains on it."

She then let out frustrated curse. "That's my last Star-Killer's shirt that I haven't ruined. Can you go and grab everything and throw it in a trash bag? I was going to go to the laundromat anyway today. Give me whatever you need, and I'll do it while you're at work."

"That'd be awesome!" Ben said. "You sure you don't mind? If it's too much for you to take...."

"You're acting like I'm offering to be a surrogate for your firstborn child or something, Ben. I'm just doing laundry."

The comparison she'd chosen to make for this scenario was a strange one, but the point had been made all the same. She was a friend offering to throw a few things in the wash for him. There was nothing strange about that---just a good deed.

"Okay, thanks, Rey. I'll leave the bag in your room, but I've got to get going. I'm cursing whichever manager decided to put me in charge of the daycare pictures today. Tabitha and Jamie are doing high-school sports teams."

"Ugh, I feel for you, buddy. Daycare pictures sound brutal. Personally, I think you should do more than curse them."

Ben just laughed at her sarcastic remark, only she could make it sound funnier than it really needed to be. That's why he liked her so much. Who wants a stiff-ass for a roommate when you could have someone like Rey Kenobi around? "When I need help thinking of a way to plot my revenge, I'll be sure to consult with you."

"You had better," she said, followed by. "Have fun."

"I won't," he promised her. "You're naked and wet in the shower, and I want to fuck you and now I have to leave. I suddenly hate this job even more now, and I didn't think that was even remotely possible." 

"Goodbye, Ben," she said. And somehow that still managed to make him smile as he walked opened the door and made his way out into the hallway. "I'll see you later tonight."

* * *

"Morning Linda," Rey said after pulling open the door to the laundromat and slinging the gigantic black trash bag full of clothes over her shoulder. Linda looked up from whatever trashy magazine she'd been reading behind the counter.

"Well, look who it is. If it isn't the emo Mrs. Claus herself," she said in the same monotone voice she used every time she spoke about well....anything. "I'd ask you where you elves are, but I'm guessing even _they_ find you intolerable."

Rey bit the inside of her lip to hold back a laugh, and only when was safely facing the washers--and away from Linda--did she let herself smile.

"You're such a trip, Linda. You know that?" She plopped the bag onto the metal table and began pulling clothes out if it. But she stopped in mid-reach and looked over at Linda again. "Oh my God, I totally can't believe that I didn't think of it until now," she said.

"I honestly have no interest in knowing what you're thinking of, but I know you'll just tell me anyway, so go ahead."

Rey could barely contain her excitement. "Linda Tripp, that's your new name."

"Marvelous," she replied with her signature indifference.

"Ha!" Rey laughed. "I didn't even see it until now, but the physical resemblance is uncanny." She approached the counter where Linda was sitting on her little wooden stool. "Straw-like hair, shoulder pads, a face that looks like a cross between John Goodman and Marilyn Manson."

"Are you done now, Kenobi?"

"Almost. Have you ever wiretapped a phone in your time?"

Linda just stared at her, and the silence only amused Rey further. "I'm surprised you even know who she is. I've got feces in my large intestine older than you, girl."

"Well, that's....just gross as fuck." Rey hardly ever met people who were as odd and as disturbed as she was, but she'd met her match when it came to Linda. Which was one of the reasons she went to this particular laundromat over the one that was two blocks closer to her apartment.

The strange Asian man who asked for her help with his crosswords wasn't nearly as entertaining as the hem sitting right in front of her. Rey returned to the washers and began tossing in some of the clothing. There were definitely at least two loads, and it crossed her mind to separate the clothing so that Ben's was in one washer and hers in another.

But she ultimately decided that if she could mix bodily fluids with that same said man, she could certainly mix their laundry. 

"And whose boxers are those?" Linda called out from her stool.

She'd turned her head toward Rey, but her body was still facing the front of the store. She reminded Rey of an owl without very much the wisdom. 

"You're mom's," Rey said. The ridiculousness of her comment only made it that much funnier to her, but she managed not to laugh.

Linda's expression remained completely unamused, however. "I would've thought you got yourself a boyfriend if I didn't know what a miserable sadist you are. So I'm thinking it's more likely that you started the transitioning process." 

"Well you're right about the part of me not having a boyfriend," Rey said. She finished loading the clothes and turned on the washer. Then she plopped down on a nearby chair, raising her voice so that Linda could hear her about all the loud noise. "The sex change does seem like the more likely option. If things go as planned, I'm hoping to have as much facial hair as you by the time winter gets here."

"Well, since you're already such a dick, I'm sure it won't be long before you _have_ one of those too."

Rey couldn't contain her smile this time, so she kept her head down where it had been directed at the phone on her lap. Over the course of the next half hour or so, Linda had to answer the phone twice and open the vending machine for someone when it didn't give them the soda they'd paid for.

It was the most Rey had seen the woman work since she'd starting coming here a little over a year ago. 

"I almost didn't recognize you without the stool stuck to your ass," Rey said just as Lina returned to her place behind the counter. 

"Yeah, well, I'm fairly sure it's a lot better than what you've got stuck to yours most of the time." 

Rey thought about asking Linda to explain her comment if for no other reason than entertainment value, but she decided against it. Listening to Linda talk about semen not on the list of things that Rey wanted to accomplish today. Moving the clothing from the washer to the dryer, Rey wondered if there was anything of Ben's that shouldn't go in there, but she figured if he hadn't give her specific instructions, then whatever she did was fine.

She tossed the last of their things into the two machines and turned them on. "So, you will never told me whose underwear you're washing," Linda said.

Rey looked up from her Twitter feed. "I thought we already established that it was mine?" 

"Well, I've decided that can't be the case. You don't look like the type to own an actual pair of underwear." 

Rey stared at her blankly for a moment before finally responding. "Okay, that was a good one. I'll give you that." 

But before Linda could even reply, their attention was drawn to the lights flickering and then cutting out completely overhead. The washers slowed, spinning a few more times before stopping completely just as the dryers had. 

"What the actual hell?" Rey said, along with a few other people who were headed to the storefront windows to see if the power was out anywhere else. 

"Looks like the whole streets out," said one main nearby.

"Do you have a generator or anything, Linda, in case it doesn't come back on anytime soon?" Rey asked her.

"This isn't your local hospital. It's a laundromat." 

"Well, what the hell are we supposed to do with our clothes?"

"You can leave them here with me, and I'll finish them up for you as soon as we get the electricity back. But I'll cost you something just like it would if you dropped them off for me to wash and fold." 

"Listen Linda," Rey had been waiting months for the perfect opportunity to say that, and she wondered if the woman even got the reference. "I'm not paying for that. I already paid you to wash and dry my stuff. It's not my fault that the power went out."

Linda then shrugged. "It's not my fault either."

Rey sighed as she opened the dryer and began throwing the damp clothing into the big black trash back yet for the second time that day. She wondered if it would even hold the weight without breaking as she hauled them to the other laundromat. 

"I'll dry them somewhere else then," she said.

"Don't bother. The power's out for blocks," someone quickly chimed in. "My friend just texted me."

Rey looked at the bag of clothes in her hands and then back to the young man who had just spoken. "I'll figure something out," she said. "Somehow I _always_ do."

* * *

Ben put the last of the equipment into the company van and shut the doors before taking a look at his watch. It was just after six thirty in the evening, and he'd spent the majority of his day trying to make babies laugh and getting toddlers to sit still.

He was amazed at how easily the teachers at the daycare were able to block out distractions when he could barely focus long enough to snap a quick picture of a three-year old in a fedora.

When he'd taken the picture, he'd wondered why anyone would want to preserve such an image but decided not to ask when the boy's parents showed up and began selecting photos like they were creating a wedding album for the kid.

How Ben's life had veered so far off course that he was taking pictures of kids named after clothing lines, he couldn't figure out. But there he was, spending his nine-to-five telling children named Denim and Cargo to say cheese. He was thankful when the last few parents had finalized their orders of their child's school portraits on the studio's touchscreens and they'd set up in the lobby of the childcare center.

Even though there was a coffee shop next door, there wasn't enough coffee in the world to make Ben stay there any longer.

He was beat and it was only a Monday. When he got back to the studio, he and Anton unloaded the van and locked up all the equipment before heading out to the parking lot.

At least the weather had gotten considerably better than it'd been over the weekend and even that morning.

"I'll see you later in the week," Ben said. "I don't think I'll be back until Friday for senior parents. What about you?" 

"I've got off Tuesday and Thursday, but then I'm in every say through Sunday, I think."

"All right, man. You take it easy."

"You too," Anton said before getting into his old Nissan and pulling out of the parking lot.

The ride home was much quicker than Ben had expected it to be, probably because it was after rush hour. As he ascended the three flights of steps to his apartment, all he could think about was taking a longer, hot shower and relaxing on the couch for the rest of the night.

He unlocked the door and called out, "Hi, honey, I'm home," before grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and heading down the hall towards his room. "Rey? Are you here? Do you want to watch a movie or something and order some food, or did you eat already?"

He figured since her door to her room was shut that she was probably in there, and he hoped he didn't wake her up from a nap or something.

Deciding not to knock, he put his ear up to to the door to see if he could hear anything. But he almost fell through the threshold when Rey pulled open the flimsy door. 

"Jesus," she said. "You scared the hell out of me, Ben. I didn't even realize that you were home."

"Sorry. I was calling out for you. You didn't hear me?" 

"No, sorry. I just came back inside. I was out on the fire escape."

Ben was confused. "Why?"

"Because I was done out there."

"No, why were you even out there to begin with?" he asked.

"Oh, I was bringing some stuff in off from the line."

"Line? What line? What are you talking about, Rey?" he asked, growing even more confused.

"Our clothesline," she said. "We officially have one now." 

"What? Why? I thought you said you were going down to the laundromat to wash some stuff. They have dryers there, you know."

"That I do know. But dryers don't work if the power is off, and the power went off a little after our stuff went in, so I had to improvise in the best way that I could."

"Oh, um....okay. You didn't have to do all of that, but thanks." he said. 

"Well, I had to try them somehow and no one likes mildew. They would've smelled like mildew unless we washed them all over again, and that's a waste of time and money--two things neither of us had to spare." 

Ben had been wondering how she'd managed to rig up any kind of line to their apartment building, but he figured that there was no way to know without asking her. "What did you attach it too? There's only one fire escape in our apartment."

"Come on," she said, gesturing for him to follow her into her room and out the window. Once outside, she pointed over to the rope that she had strung from their fire escape railing to another, two apartments away. "Mrs. Michael let me tie it to hers. It would've been way too short if I attached it to Baby and Guy's fire escape. Plus, that would've involved asking them, and they were yelling about Christmas dinner....and it's only October. I didn't want to get involved," she explained. 

"I can imagine," said Ben, raking his hand through his hair.

"So I threw it to Mrs. Michael, and we lowered it under Baby and Guy's fire escape. You kind of have to be careful that the clothes don't rub against the metal when you pull the string, but otherwise it works perfectly." She crossed her arms and smiled, clearly proud of herself. "There still wasn't enough line to fit everything, so I dried all of our heavier stuff first, like jeans and things, and I laid the other stuff around the apartment on towels to dry a little until it was their turn," she said, like the clothing was waiting in line for an amusement park ride. "Two first batch is done, and I just put the other things on maybe two hours ago."

Ben looked down at the sagging rope, which had clothing attached to it with hair clips and bobby pins. "By 'other things' you mean all of _my_ underwear?" he said as he stared at his boxers blowing carelessly in the breeze.

One pair even had a hole in them that he hadn't even noticed until now. Jesus, the stories his boxers could tell.....

"Yeah. And mine too," she said, pulling on the line so Ben could see where the small pieces of lace hung just below Baby and Guy's fire escape.

"So you're telling me that our next door neighbors and probably half of New York City have been looking at our underwear all day long?"

"No. I already told you. It's only been hanging out there like two hours. And what does it matter anyway? It's just underwear."

"I don't know," he answered. "Doesn't it make you feel weird that people might be eating dinner to the sight of your red thong blowing in the breeze?"

"No," she said as if the question had been ridiculous. "It's not like their view was that spectacular before that. They were probably thankful for the change in scenery instead of the darkness of my drawers."

Ben just shook his head, but somehow he couldn't help but be captivated by the woman in front of them. She was so carefree and unapologetic. He let the smile he felt coming sweep across his face as he stared at her. "You're insane, you know that?"

She smiled back, a gleam in her eyes that he'd come to know well. "So I've been told."


	16. Chapter 16

Rey finished her fourth slice of pizza and tossed the crust back into the box on the coffee table in front of them. "Boy, I'm stuffed," she said, making Ben wonder where she put it all. 

Rey wasn't even embarrassed to eat real food in front of him, which was a welcome change from some of the other women he'd dated in the past. Though what he and Rey had going couldn't exactly be called dating. They worked together, lived together, and slept together. 

It seemed more of a relationship of convenience than anything else. Though somehow, that thought made him more disappointed than he wanted to admit out loud. More than once already---his brain wondered to that very slim possibility--

What would it look like if me and Rey were dating? What sort of life would we have together as a couple? Like a _real_ couple---two people young and passionately in love? But then he remembered Rey didn't do relationships, and all his spirts were quickly squashed. 

"So what's new with the American youth these days? she asked him. "Did you see any kids with full sleeves of tattoos or baby bumps or anything unusual?"

Ben laughed out loud at the very thought. "Nah, not today, I'm afraid. I was at a daycare, remember?"

"Yeah, I remembered. So what?"

"I probably would've had to report that to the authorities if I'd seen either of those things. Unfortunately, the weirdest things I saw was the kids' names."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"They're all named after places. And the weirdest thing....fabrics," he added. "Like Tennessee or Paisley or something. One kid was even named Jupiter. Can you believe that shit? Who the fuck names their baby Jupiter?"

"Yeah, that's pretty horrible," Rey admitted. "Still, it's much better than Uranus though."

Ben nearly spit out the beer he'd taken a sip of, but he managed to finished swallowing. Like usual, Rey's comedic timing was on cue. "Yes, I agree. Jupiter's definitely better than Uranus." He grabbed another piece of pizza and plopped it on his plate. "I swear, if I ever have kids someday, I'm not naming them anything weird. It's just setting them up for a lifetime of torture. I mean, who's calling someone named Cargo in for an interview when they see his name on a resume?"

"There was a kid there today named Cargo?"

Ben nodded. "Yes." 

"Man, and I thought that _my_ name was bad."

"Rey?" Ben asked. "What's wrong with your name? I like it."

"Yeah. So did my dad, at least at first, that is--until he found out that I was a girl, instead. He was convinced that I was going to be a boy and just refused to change the name he had picked out for his son. I guess I should be thankful he didn't choose something even more masculine." She thought for a moment. "I could've been a Christopher or Henry or something, I guess."

"Ha! No offense or anything, but I'm not sure I could've slept with you if your name was Henry," Ben said.

He adjusted his position on the couch so that he was leaning against the arm of it facing her fully. He was aware that she'd mentioned her father, but something told him not to ask her any more about her family.

Besides, he'd been wondering something for a while now, and he hadn't even asked her. But now seemed like as good a time as any. "Can I ask you something, Rey?"

"You can always ask," she said. "Though I might choose not answer it."

"Fair enough," Ben said. And then, "Why don't you have any tattoos?"

"What made you think of that?"

Ben shrugged his shoulders. "I thought of it a few minutes ago when you mentioned kids having sleeves of them. But to be perfect honest, I've been kind of curious about it since I first met you actually." She looked rather surprised. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you seem like someone who'd have some. You dress the way you wanna dress, say what you wanna say. I guess, I just figured you'd expressed yourself through your art too. I was a bit surprised when I saw you naked for the very first time that you didn't have any."

"You don't have any either," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm nowhere near as interesting as you. If I ever got one, I'd be something lame, I'm sure. And then I'd have it on me for the rest of my life. I can't commit to something like that."

Ben smiled in a way that made Ben wonder what was underneath it. Like she wasn't completely there in that moment with him.

"My reason for not having any is pretty much similar to yours actually," she said.

"Oh yeah? Are you scared you'll get a tattoo of Super Mario on your ass-cheeks or something like that?" he asked with a sudden laugh.

"Nah. It doesn't matter what I'd get. The very thought that it would be permanent is enough to make me never want to do it."

"I'm surprised, truly. You don't strike me as the type of person to have my regrets in her life."

"Well, it's true. I don't," she said casually. "I just try to take my life as it comes at me and make the best of it, but I don't particularly want a permanent reminder of shit inked on my body either." She groaned as if she were annoyed with herself. "I really don't know why I keep doing this with you."

"Doing what?" he asked, confused by what she meant by those choice of words. He loved sharing these precious moments with her, even if they were sometimes painful for her to talk about. "We're just talking. You know like two normal people--or in this case roommates, do. We're having a moment and it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I mean, sharing shit with you that I don't normally tell anyone."

"Rey, you don't have to share anything with me you don't want to share. Remember? Just because I asked the question doesn't mean that you have to answer it. You said it yourself."

"I know I don't _have_ to," she said. "I'm just angry with myself because.....because I _want_ to with you."

Ben couldn’t begin to tell her how much hearing those words meant to him. Part of him wanted to kiss her right then and there and the other part of him wanted ravish her body like the goddess she was. She was slowly coming out of her shell. He could see it in the way she moved around with him, talked with him, and even when they had sex these last two times. It made them both come...alive. 

* * *

Rey wasn’t familiar with this strange feeling—the one that caused her to want to open up to this beautiful, yet caring man in front of her. Of all the times she’d shared her past with someone, most of them had felt forced.

And _all_ of them had been with mental health professionals who were being paid to listen to her story, analyze all the ways she was broken, and tell her what she could do to try and fix it. But here was this guy who she’d met at some random job, and he _wanted_ to know her story, but more importantly, he _wanted_ to know her. 

And as much as she tried, she couldn’t resist the urge to tell him, as if letting all her shit out into the world would somehow relieve her some of its dark, heavy weight. 

“Truth this, there hasn’t been much in my life that’s been permanent,” she began. “Houses, family, friends, towns...hell, even roommates,” she said with a low smile. “They’ve all disappeared almost as quickly as they’ve come.”

She thought back to all of the houses she’d lived in, the communities she’d passed through. They were all a blur in her mind, like a mourning fog that still hadn’t been lifted hours into a day. 

“Nothing in my life has ever lasted long enough to really mean anything,” she continued. “I've lived in seven different houses and two foster houses by the time I was thirteen years old. At first, the change was tough on me, as it would be for any teenager. But eventually it became nothing for me to pack up and move with barely any warning. I got pretty good at it, too. I’d pretend I was a firefighter responding to an emergency call. It was like a game that way. I’d get dressed, pack up all my gear, and leave without much thought to if I’d ever be back.” 

She sighed deeply, realizing that she’d let all of that out in almost one breath. Ben didn’t say anything as he waited for her continue. He was eager to hear more. He _needed_ to know more.

“I never had pictures or posters on the wall I needed to remember to take with me when I left. I guess I thought if there wasn’t evidence I’d ever been there, it would almost be like I hadn’t.” 

“I’m so sorry, Rey. You didn’t deserve that,” he said quietly. 

“There isn’t anything for you to be sorry about. There isn’t anything for _anyone_ to be sorry about. Shitty things happen to good people all of the time. But I guess that’s the reason I don’t want a tattoo. I’m just so used to things changing. I can’t even begin to imagine having something that doesn’t.” 

Ben pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes. “But you made this little space your own now and decorated it with things that you like,” Ben said, gesturing to their surroundings where she had endless trinkets that had been taken her years to accumulate. “Wouldn’t your body be the same?”

Rey was silent as she thought about Ben’s question. She’d always been the one who had to change, the one who had to adapt to whatever life dealt her. That flexibility was one of the traits she actually liked about herself. She couldn’t wrap her brain around the present Rey making a decision for the future one. 

“I guess the difference is that if I don’t like some little figurine or candle or something, I can easily just throw it out. I can change the paint color or furniture or whatever if I want to, but a tattoo is different. A tattoo is forever. There’s no erasing it or tossing it in the trash if I get sick of it over time. I guess I just like to keep my options open.” 

Ben nodded. “Well, when you put it that way it makes a lot of sense actually,” he said. And then, “ So what makes you choose this coral color? For the wall color, I mean,” he clarified. 

“Because it’s pretty,” she answered so easily that it surprised her. “So much of my life has been filled with darkness and ugliness that I guess I just wanted to be surrounded by beauty for once.”

Rey couldn’t even remember the last time she cried, but she was damn close to it right now, and the acknowledgement only made it that much more difficult to hold back the tears. She swallowed hard, feeling the lump sting her throat as it slid down.

“What made you change the color of your room?” 

“I read in an article somewhere that blue is a calming color, so I decided to try it out.” 

“And? Does it work?”

“I think so,” she said with a casual shrug. She wasn’t sure if it was the wall color of the fact that it was her own personal space, but she did feel more relaxed in her room than any other space in the whole apartment.

“So they why’d you leave the one wall in your bedroom white?” he asked. 

It was a good question, but it was one she wasn't sure she was quite ready to answer just yet. She thought for a moment before deciding that she'd already revealed so much to him already, she didn't think she was capable of holding anything back.

"I haven't seen my parents since I was fifteen," she said. "And I haven't lived with them since I was seven. They both went to jail for possession a few times when I was young enough that I don't really remember it. But when their addictions got worse, so did their sentences. Eventually they both went away for robbery and some other, more minor charges. But because of their criminal history, it was safe to say they weren't getting out anytime soon."

Rey looked up from where she'd been picking at a piece of fabric. Ben's eyes were on her as he seemed to be listening to every word, unsure of what to say.

"Is this....is this too much for you to hear?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No. No, it's not," he said quietly. "I'm really glad that you're telling me this."

And so was she. Rey continued, explaining how the last good memory she had was of her little house in Oak Ridge where she and her parents lived until she was seven and things started to get really bad after that. It wasn't the biggest house or the nicest. But it was _her_ house---the last place that truly felt like home to her.

"When I was little, I used to be scared of bad guys. They'd shown us some stranger-danger type of presentation at school, and I was terrified that someone was going to come in the house and go into my room and take me away when I was sleeping. I was scared that I'd wake up and be in some new, unfamiliar place with people that I didn't know,"

She almost laughed at the irony of it. Her fear had come true once she'd been bounced around to various foster homes. But it hadn't been the bad guys who'd taken her; it'd been the _good_ ones. 

"I'd have dreams that people kidnapped me, and I'd wake up screaming and thinking that I was somewhere else. My parents would run and try to calm me down so that I'd stop yelling."

"Is that what you have nightmares about now?" Ben asked. Though she'd shared so much with him already, he still looked hesitant to ask her more.

"Sometimes," she answered, deciding now wasn't the time to get into the other reason for her bad dreams. "Anyway, one night, my mom told me to put my hand on the wall to my bed. She ran my hand along it and told me to feel the crack in the plaster. She told me to memorize its shape and path so that when I got scared and thought I was somewhere else, I could jus reach up and touch it so that I'd know I was home in my own bed. It was just a dirty white wall with a crack in it, but it got me through a lot of sleepless nights."

She breathed before continuing. This was becoming harder and harder---so was the urge to fight back her tears and that was the last thing she wanted Ben Solo to see. Her cry. "So when I got this apartment and saw there was a similar crack in this room, I couldn't even bring myself to paint over it. I guess chipped white wall looked pretty to me too," she said thinking of the last good memories she had of her parents. "It feels stupid that happened almost twenty-odd some years ago, but in some ways it still feels like it was yesterday."

Ben reached his hand out, placing it on hers without looking away from her. She concentrated on the way his thumb rubbed circles over the back of her hand. The motion soothed her, though she wasn't aware she needed soothing until then.

"No, it's not stupid at all, Rey." Ben said, and somehow the words comforted her a bit. "Tons of people in this world hang on to memories from when they were little."

She smiled, but it was tight against his lips. "Yeah," she said. "But I'm just not one of them. Or at least I didn't _think_ I was."


	17. Chapter 17

Been had been practically speechless as Rey told him about her childhood, but somehow he'd been able to ask a few questions--questions she'd trusted him enough to answer. There was no way he could sit silently and listen to everything she'd told him without wanting to know more. 

It amazed him that the beautiful young woman sitting in front of him had been through so much at such a young age. He'd never known anyone who had dealt with as much as she had.

"What are you thinking right now?" Rey asked him, making him realize that he'd probably been quiet for a bit too long.

"That you're so fucking incredible," he said. And he meant it with every fiber of his being.

"No, I'm definitely not," she replied, and he thought he saw her cheeks blush a little.

"No, you definitely are---to me," he said again. He let out a deep breath before speaking again. "My own parent kicked me out when I refused to follow the path they laid out for me. I wanted to be a photographer, but that wasn't good enough for them. And all of this time, I felt I'd gotten such a raw fucking deal. But here you are, dealing with way worse shit and being strong as hell about it. I pretty much feel like a huge pussy right now."

Rey laughed softly, moving closer to him so she could reach up and touch the back of his neck. His soft black wavy locks were soft against her hand as she scratched his scalp light with her nails.

"No, you're not a huge pussy," she assured him. And then, "You're like a little one. Medium-sized at most," she said with a smile. 

He loved how she had a way of breaking the tension when he needed it, like she knew exactly what to say and when to say it make him feel at ease. But he was the one who should be doing that for her, not the other way around.

"I want you to know how much it means to me that you told me all that," he said. "And I promise you here and now that I won't say anything to anyone. You don't to worry about that."

"I don't worry. I trust you, Ben," she said, leaning in to place a soft kiss on his lips. 

Like ever other kiss between them, it had a way of leading to more, and in seconds they were tearing off each other's clothing until there was nothing that came between them. Suddenly Ben was aware of all of her--- the thumping of her heart under his chest as they moved together, how perfectly he fit inside her, the smell of her hair as he breathed in her mint and citrus scent. 

He worked his hands over her body wildly like he couldn't get enough of her, and it was only then he realized it was because he couldn't. 

This girl, this beautiful woman beneath him had a hold on him like no one he'd ever encountered before. He couldn't take his eyes off her as he cock thrust inside her, silently begging her to find her release so that he could to. Every breath was a gasp, choppy and labored as he struggled to hold off.

But he could sense how close she was by the flush on her neck and chest and the way her eyelids seemed to flutter open for a moment then close tightly again.

"Come on, Rey," Ben said. "I'm right there.....give yourself to me."

And he heard how strained his words sounded. His cock jerked with the need to cum, but he slowed his hips a bit to last. Now he drives were slower, more rhythmic, but no less pleasurable.

Every single push inside her felt like it could be the one to make him explode, and he gripped the base of his shaft for a few moments to stop himself before moving his fingers to Rey's clit and massaging it. 

"Rey, I can't....God, you're so fucking warm....and so wet, Christ," he said, knowing if she didn't cum soon he'd have no choice but to stop moving until he could gain control of himself again. "I can't wait much longer."

With those words, he had Rey tumbling over the edge, her body pulsing around his as she told him to let go inside of her. He didn't even have tome to process her words before his orgasm was there, his cock jerking against her slick walls until he'd emptied himself completely.

He wanted to stay there, wrapped in her warmth with the evidence of their encounter between them. But eventually, he pulled out of her, allowing her to get up and head to the bathroom while he picked up his clothes to get dressed.

A few minutes later, Rey returned, wearing nothing but black lace panties and a tight T-shirt that came just about her underwear. When she sat down next to him, he pulled her closer to him, running his hand along her arm as she snuggled into his chest. 

For a fleeting moment, it crossed his mind that he could stay like this with her forever, with Rey in his arms. He had been struggling to understand what these feelings meant---he didn't need to any longer. After tonight, after all that he had told her, he understood those feelings _very_ well.

Benjamin Organa-Solo had fallen madly in love with his roommate. 

But if he'd learned anything their conversation, it was that nothing in her life was permanent. And that, unfortunately, included him.

* * *

As Rey stole another glance at Ben, who’d been restocking the napkins, straws, and plastic utensils quietly for the past ten minutes or so, she wondered what was up with him. She couldn’t put her finger on whatever emotions he seemed to have swirling inside him, but there was something how close they’d gotten since he first moved in that let her know he wasn’t quite himself. 

Whether it was sadness or anger or frustration, she wasn’t sure, and he hasn’t said very much to her all morning to give her any indication of what exactly was wrong. 

She knew what it was like to deal with something internally, to want to be left alone in her own head and hope that no one asked her what her profile was. Because false concern was always the worst kind. She knew from personal experience. 

But her concern for Ben was real—almost tangible—and it made it impossible for her to ignore the way his shoulders slumped as he filled the last of the napkin holders and leaned against the counter. 

He stared ahead blankly at the stainless-steel cooler where they kept the milk and cream. His mind was somewhere, but it wasn’t there. Rey’s mind immediately went to last night. A lot of things had been said—and done. She would never forget the orgasm he gave her. She could feel it even now as she continued to stare at him. 

“Ben, are you all right?” she asked, figuring it was the least invasive of the possible questions she could think of. 

She also figured that she’d wait to hear his response before decided whether to press the issue any further.

Ben jerked his head up like she’d startled him, which only confirmed that this thoughts were elsewhere. “Yeah, I’m just thinking, is all.” he answered. 

His tone was surprisingly light and it made her wonder if he'd made a conscious choice to sound that way so as not to worry her any further. Because had been just that....worried.

"It wasn't about whether we should bang each other on Poe's office while he's out at lunch, was it? Because the answer's no. There's no door, his desk and chair are gross, and I'm scared I'll get splinters from the wood paneling on the wall."

Thankfully, Ben laughed at this, causing a smile to break out across his face. "So then I guess the floor's out too then, huh? Cause....I've seen how good I can fuck you against tiles, what's flooring going to hurt?"

"That goes without saying." 

"I figured," he said. "And to answer your question, no, I wasn't thinking about have sex in Poe's office.....at least until you mentioned it just now." 

"Sorry, Solo, it's not going to happen," she said before hopping up to sit on the counter. "So what _were_ you thinking about then, if you don't mind me asking?"

"My parents," he said through a low groan. "Sorry. It's stupid. I shouldn't even be complaining to you about this."

She knew Ben's hesitance to talk about his relationship with his parents probably came from everything he'd learned about hers the other day, and she didn't want him to feel like his problems weren't important to talk about. 

"If you can't complain to your own roommate slash co-worker slash lover about it, then _who_ can you complain to?"

Ben seemed to be studying her as if he were trying to figure out if the words were only just words or if they were genuine. She hoped that her expression told him that she really did want to know what was happening. He was quiet a few more seconds before Rey noticed his shoulders sag a bit. 

"My dad called me the other day and said that they'd be in the neighborhood next weekend, and they want to stop by. That's code for 'checking to make sure I'm not squatting in a crack den', or even worse in their eyes, working some mental job with no clear future in sight. I don't feel like dealing with it." 

"Okay," Rey said, dragging out the word. "Look, I know our apartment isn't the penthouse or anything, but it's not a crack den either."

"It's not that, Rey. I don't fucking care what they think of where I live or who I'm living with, anyway. But for some reason, what they think of _me_. They're going to ask a million-zillion questions about my life and where it's headed, and none of my answers are ones they want to hear."

It crossed Ben's mind to suggest that Ben lie, but she figured it he hadn't decided to do that already, there was probably a reason he was against it. Like he had a heart and a conscience. 

"I mean it's not like you're living under a bridge swapping blowjobs for food stamps. You're working super hard, and you have a place to live. What more do they want from you?" 

It suddenly occurred that the answer was probably "a lot more," but she let her question stand.

"I don't know. But my current status definitely isn't anything to brag about. Even I know that. Nothing's changed since the last time I've seen them last. Well, except that my old roommate used my rent money to get high, so I had to move, but I doubt that I'll impress them very much," Ben said dryly.

"Then what _will?_ "

"Huh?" he asked. 

"You said that you current situation won't impress them, so what will?"

His eyebrows pressed together in thought, and then he shook his head and shrugged. "I honestly don't know. It's not like they expect me to suddenly have some hotshot career making six figures or something. But you know they hate the whole photography thing--."

"And what do they hate about it exactly?" Rey hadn't mean to cut him off, but she needed to know the answer. 

Ben was quiet for a moment because a woman had come to the counter to place an order. Rey rung her up and told her that her order would be up shortly. Then she turned back to Ben, who was putting a bagel in the toaster.

"Pretty much everything," he said. "The fact that it's an art, that there aren't many jobs that pay well, how subjective the field is. I think the main thing is that they know it's tough to make a living at it."

"Is it?" Rey had no idea.

"Yeah. Seems like it. Unless you work for a company, you'd ben an independent contractor or have to start your own business. And that's go to take a while to get going."

Rey nodded slowly. "Yeah. Probably. What do you ultimately want to do with it?"

"I don't know...I always thought it'd be cool to have my own work in a gallery or something to sell, but that's a long way off. And that's even more difficult to make money from. For now, I'd settle for doing some small photo shoots with families or working weddings or something."

"Have you tried seeing what other opportunities there are? Eve if you got a job here and there helping out another photographer, it would probably help with networking and getting your work out there for the public to see. It's not much, but it might open some doors for you in the long run."

"I haven't looking in a few years. I got so busy with the jobs I had and couldn't really find the time to look for something better."

"I bet of you were at least actively looking for something they might support it more. I mean, it can't hurt, right? At least, I mean. I just know they'll still think you'll never make a good living from it, but you'll have proved them wrong if you never even try," Ben opened his mouth to speak, but Rey continued. "That sounded worse than how I meant it. I mean....I'm not saying you aren't trying. The school pictures place pays the bills, but I'm guessing anyone who knows how to work a camera can do that. Taking yearbook pictures of simply teenagers named Kansas isn't exactly showing off your creativity."

Ben's laugh was enough of a confirmation that she was correct. He _loved_ that about her. As he _loved_ her. 

"Have you sent out your portfolio out to other photographers who might need an assistant or tried putting up some ads online or anything? Maybe you could book a few private photos?"

Ben seemed to hesitate to answer that question. "No. Um....I don't exactly have a portfolio."

Ben tried to temper back her shock, but she felt her eyes widen anyway. This was a man with passion, but he didn't seem to me making much of an effort to further his career.

"Well, I _have_ one," he said, probably sensing her surprise. "Or _part_ of one, that is. Bit it's like six years old. No one's going to want to look at that. It doesn't even show the caliber of what I'm capable of now."

Rey smiled a low and thoughtful grin that she hoped was as enigmatic as it felt. "Then let's both find out what you're capable of."

"You make that sound ten times sexier than it really ought to be," said Ben in a low voice. He then leaned close and added, "Consider me intrigued. _Very_ intrigued."


	18. Chapter 18

Ben Solo had never been someone who liked surprises very much. He wasn't someone who wanted to show up to a place on his birthday and have everyone jump out from behind the furniture. He never took a test without know what to study. 

And he certainly didn't want to go to his own photoshoot unprepared. But when Rey had suggested Ben take some pictures to start getting a portfolio together prior to his parents' visit, she'd been tight-lipped about what exactly he'd be photographing today, and he wasn't sure why.

She told him she'd arrange a few opportunities for him to get some good shots in, and so far, she'd come through. She'd shared the ideas for the first two sessions as soon as she'd been able to secure the details. Somehow she'd managed to find a wedding for him to shoot. The fact that it was outdoors and had other photographers there only confirmed his suspicions that Rey and Ben probably shouldn't be there, but what he didn't know for sure couldn't hurt him.

Still, he figured the less that could be seen of people's faces, the better. So he concentrated on taking some more artistic shots--flowers in the bride's hand, the interlocked fingers of the bride and groom as they stood next to one another altar. 

He even got an adorable picture of the ring bearer pulling the one-year-old flower girl down the aisle in the red wagon. The fact that the photo was from behind didn't stop Rey from warning him to be careful taking pictures of minors.

He's suggested they leave after that comment, and though he wanted to kill Rey for putting him in that situation that resulted in him having pictures of children without their parents' consent, he couldn't help but be appreciative of what she'd potentially risked to help him.

When she'd told him about the infant photoshoot she'd lined up a few days later, he'd been skeptical until she'd assured him the parents did in fact know her and did in fact invite Ben to take pictures of their newborn for his portfolio as long as he promised to give them a CD that they could use to print their own pictures.

It was more than a fair deal, and Ben was more than grateful for their help. But now he had no idea what Rey had in store, and it scared the living hell out of him.

"So you thought it was no big deal to crash a wedding, but you won't even tell me where we're going this time? I feel like I should be worried." He noticed her trying to bite back a grin. "No scratch that last bit. I _am_ worried."

"We're not going anywhere."

"So then is someone coming here?" he asked, looking around at the cluttered apartment and thinking he should probably start cleaning it up a bit before their guests arrived. But she shook her head at him. "So, then who am I photographing?"

This time she let herself smile. But it was small, and for the first time since he'd met Rey, she looked shy. "Me."

"What? Really?" Rey didn't strike him as someone who would want to pose for pictures. He didn't think he'd ever seen seen her take a selfie before.

"Yes. Really." Her voice was soft, slow as she seemed to glide toward the couch and lie on her side there. "I want you to draw me like one of your French girls."

Ben's eyes were the only thing that moved as they darted around the room like the walls were going to tell him what the hell that meant. Finally, his gaze settled back on her. "What does that even mean, Rey?"

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Haven't you ever seen the movie _Titanic_ before, Solo?"

"No."

"And you've never wondered about those memes with that quote and weirds posing in proactive positions?"

"The only weirdo I've seen posing in a proactive position here lately is you." That earned him a pillow to the chest, not that he was bothered by it very much. Any chance to see Rey naked at his leisure made him happy these days. "Are you serious though?" he asked. "You don't really need to do that."

"No, you're right, I don't," she said, her eyes blazing into his from across the room. "But I want to. I'm completely yours for the day. Take pictures of anything you want. Thought I don't have much planned, so I'm not sure how very interesting I'll be. But I figured that would allow you to be creative."

Ben wanted to tell Rey that there was nothing about her that _wasn't_ interesting, but he was too excited to even speak. Rey was beautiful and captivating and he was in madly in love with her. No lens on earth would show her in any other way.

After flipping through a million possible photos ideas in his mind, Ben was finally able to mutter a simple "thank you" before heading into his room to grab his bag.

He'd promised to be a fly on the wall during Rey's day and told her it would be best if she went about her business as if he wasn't even there and to let him do the rest. Candid shots were his favorite anyway because they captured a person's essence completely in a single moment. It was what he'd always loved best about photography. 

In a world that rushed by too fast for anyone to appreciate it, photos allowed time to stand still. They gave people the ability to return to those moments--a child's first smile, a vacation to the Grand Canyon, a holiday they didn't know would be their very last with a loved one.

Photos were memories compressed into a tangible object that people could hang onto forever. And in society where the present never seemed quite as important as the future, being able to hold one moment in time felt almost magical.

And for the first time in a long time, watching Rey brought that sudden burst of magic back to him.

It was hidden in a faint smile as she read her book on the fire escape, or in her eyes as she caught a glimpse of him from where she'd propped herself on one elbow and leaned over the counter to eat a bowl of cereal. And after only two hours of snapping pictures of Rey, he knew he couldn't be that fly on the wall anymore.

He needed to be involved with whatever she was doing, needed to be a part of of the magic that he saw in her. "Let's go out," he said suddenly, making Rey's head jerk up from where she'd been flipping through a magazine. 

"What's the matter, Solo? Are you bored with me already?" she teased.

"Quite the opposite, actually. I don't like only watching up when I could be doing something _with_ you instead."

"Oooh okay, I bet I can think of a few things here that we can do in this apartment, Solo." He was sure the desire in her hazel eyes was intentional. 

"Yeah, but I'm not one-hundred and ten percent sure that you'll let me use my camera for something like that, at least not yet, anyways. Though, if you're up for it, I'm more than happy to---"

"There is no way in hell am I helping you make a porn portfolio, Solo. You are completely on _your_ own if you decide to go that route bucko." 

Ben let out a loud laugh at her response, and he was glad to see that Rey was smiling to. "So, then I guess we're going out for the night, then?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere. It doesn't matter, as long as we have a good time together like we always do."

"Okay," she said before putting her bowl into the sink and getting to her feet. "Just let me grab my bag and we'll head out."

* * *

When Rey had first thought of letting Ben photograph her, the idea had caused her a small amount of anxiety. She didn't love getting her picture taken to begin with, and having someone follow her around with that as their sole purpose sounded even less appealing.

But after the first two sessions, she wanted to give Ben the chance to have unlimited access to something. Or _someone._

And the only person she figured she could convince was herself. But despite the initial apartment, being the subject of Ben's photos had felt easy, natural even. He'd taken most of the pictures before they'd left the apartment, and then a few more on their walk to the ice cream place. She wondered how Ben would make photos like the ones he'd taken interesting but she was confident that he could.

He'd shown her some of his old portfolio, and she genuinely liked his work. He had a way of bringing life to still images. Ben put down his camera while they ate their ice-cream cones at a small wrought-iron table on the sidewalk outside of a place called "What's the Scoop."

They talked about everything, from why the man walking past them in shorts was wearing two different dress socks, to which ice-cream flavor they would choose if they could only eat one for the rest of their lives.

"Double Chocolate Fudge, hands down," Ben said. "Hands down. That's not even a competition for me."

"No way. Double Chocolate Fudge is too limiting. Vanilla goes with everything. Apple pies, banana milkshakes, birthday cakes. It's like the multitasker for _all_ desserts." 

He seemed to think for a second or two before admitting that it was a solid point. "How's the salted caramel pretzel?" he asked, gesturing to what was left of her waffle cone, which wasn't that much.

"I absolutely hated it," she joked. "Do you want a bite?" 

She held the cone out to him before waiting for him to respond because she knew that he wouldn't turn it down. "Now that is so good," he said finishing the bite he'd taken. "I don't know why I got espresso chip when I work in a coffee shop."

"Because you're a glutton for punishment," she said with a shrug. "It's why you like hanging out with me so much." 

Ben laughed, but his expression grew serious quickly. Rey could feel the sudden change in the air as his eyes focused in on hers. "Being with you is hardly what I would consider at punishment, Rey." he said. 

The comment made her smile, and she felt a warmth spread through her body. It definitely wasn't a punishment being with Ben Solo either. In fact, for the first time in her life she actually enjoyed being in someone's company more than she ought to. 

* * *

"Ben, are you sure that you want me here for this?" Rey asked from the kitchen. "I mean, I can leave."

"Hey, it's your place too. I'm not going to ask you to leave. That would be just plain rude of me."

"So is keeping me here when your parents are coming over for dinner. It'll be weird if I hide out in my room while they're here, but if I meet them, it'll be even weirder because...well, I'm weird."

Ben wanted so much to tell her that he wanted her there for moral support--that she'd helped him up until now, and that he didn't want her to leave him hanging to dry when he needed her the most, but he didn't her to feel any sort of pressure. Her _very_ presence was enough for him.

"You're not weird, Rey," was what he finally settled on.

"I'm pretty sure your parents won't agree with that statement after they've met me." 

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, Rey, they don't agree with a lot of what I think, so let's keep the streak alive." He shot her a cheesy smile and pretended that he didn't notice her eyeroll. "It'll be fine. Just pretend that you're crashing one of your parties and have to make small talk." 

"Ben, your relationship with them is already strained as it is. If I do something or say something, both which are very likely---"

"You won't." He walked over to where she was now standing in the kitchen and took both her hands in his, pulling them up to his mouth to give them a soft, quick kiss. He heard his phone ding, so he reached into his back-pocket to pull it out. "Besides, they're here anyway, so now you have no choice." he said.

"Seriously? I thought they weren't supposed to ne here until three."

He shrugged. "They're _always_ early."

"Two whole _hours_ early?"

"Well, I may have told you they were coming later so that you wouldn't try to leave before they even got here."

She suddenly glared at him, but he could tell there wasn't any real anger. "How much later?"

"Two hours," he answered slowly before heading to the door.

"BEN!" she yelled, but her voice faded quickly as he opened the door. Ben gave his parents each a hug and stepped to the side so they could enter.

"Come on in," he said. "Mom. Dad. This is my roommate, Rey. Rey Kenobi." 

Rey lifted her arm enough that it could almost be considered a wave. "It's very nice to meet you. Mr. and Mrs. Solo."

"Please call me, Leia," his mom said. "And Han." She nodded towards Ben's father.

"Leia, Han and Ben Solo," Rey said. "That's all so very....alliterative." 

His parents nodded awkwardly and move over toward the living room to take a seat while Ben headed into the kitchen to get them some drinks. Rey mouthed a "you see?" to him and threw up her arms in surrender. He guessed it was because she'd said something she immediately regretted before they'd even had a chance to sit down.

He brought out some lemonade and cookies from the kitchen and set everything down on the coffee table before taking a seat in one of the empty chairs.

"How long have you lived here, Ben?" his dad asked after swallowing the bite he'd taken of an oatmeal-raisin cookie. 

His head moved back and forth as he scanned his surroundings, and Ben was sure he was making internal judgements about the place Ben had chosen to live. And that meant he was probably also making judgements about Rey. It was a realization Ben didn't like, but he chose not to go there right now. 

"A few months. My old roommate couldn't afford the rent anymore, so we both had to move." It was _close_ to the truth. "And Rey's roommate had just moved out, so the timing worked out."

"Oh, so you two aren't.....seeing each other, then?" His mother gestured between the two of them.

It suddenly crossed Ben's mind to tell her that if by "seeing each other," she meant seeing each other naked, then yes. Yes, they were seeing each other. He hesitated about how the best way to answer because though they had no title---because title mean would meant commitment---they were certainly more than friends. At least in Ben's eyes, at least.

"We know each other from The Coffee Delights," Ben offered, hoping that would provide her with enough information to appease her.

Nodding, his mom settled her hands on her lap and leaned back against the couch. "So you haven't found anything more stable?" his mom asked.

"My jobs _are_ stable, mom," he said. "I have regular hours and work more full-time between the coffee shop and the portrait studio." His eyes moved to Rey, who was sitting quietly in the chair as she listened to the conversation. 

He thought about how awkward this must be for her, and he instantly regretted insisting that she stay. Even though it was nice for him to have her there with him, the decision had been a rather selfish one.

His dad scoffed, clearly unimpressed by Ben's answer. "Making lattes and telling little kids to say cheese aren't exactly jobs to brag about."

Ben noticed Rey's eyes on his, widening as they silently urge him to speak up. Ben was already in the process of finishing his portfolio and already some potential contacts that he was planning to send everything to once it was ready, but suddenly he didn't want to tell his parents all that.

Because ultimately, he realized that what he'd done, he'd done to better himself, not to please his parents.

For the first time in a very long time, he'd enjoyed the photography process itself and was excited about where it might led him. He wasn't going to let his parents taint that excitement for him just because they didn't agree that it was "stable." This was his dream---shouldn't they be excited for him? Happy for him, at least.

Suddenly, he was aware of the other three people staring at him as they waited for him to respond. "I wouldn't be so sure," he said. "I can make one hell of a latte."

The surprise look on his father's face was enough to let Ben know that his comment had serve its intended purpose. "Ben, your life, and what you plan to do with it, isn't a joke to us, and we wish it wouldn't be a joke to you either."

"Who's joking here?" Ben asked. "You should see some of the designs in the foam that I've made."

He didn't miss the slow smile that crept over Rey's face. "He's being ridiculous." Rey said, causing his parents' gazes to suddenly shift over to her. "His designs are nowhere near as detailed as mine." She looked to Ben. "Remember the time that I drew a dick in that one dude's cappuccino?"

No, Ben did not remember that because it never actually happened. She was making stuff off to intentionally piss his parent's off and he had never been so thankful to have this woman in his life than he did right now.

"A what?" his mom asked, practically choking on her cookie. She probably wasn't sure that she'd heard Rey right, though Ben knew she had. 

"A dick," Rey said again. "Cock, penis, wang, shlong or whatever you want to call it. This guy was being a prick, so I drew in his drink."

Ben tried so hard not to smile as he held back a laugh after it dawned on him that Rey was pulling his parent's negative attention her way instead of his. It made him love her that much more. _Fuck, I love you, Rey Kenobi._

"So this what you're focusing on now, is it?" his dad asked. "Drawing pornography on people's food?" 

Finally, Ben schooled his features as his attention went to his father, who clearly didn't find Rey's comment as humorous as Ben did. "No, dad. That's not what I'm focusing on." he said. "But I've decided that since nothing I've ever focused on has ever been good enough for you, then it's not worth mentioning." 

His response seemed to make his parents uneasy as if they hadn't expected him to dismiss them so easily. His father cleared his throat as he seemed to process Ben's words.

"So our opinion is worthless to you, is it?"

"It's not worthless, no," Ben answered. "I just wish that you supported my goals. But clearly you don't." He shrugged and let the silence hang between them before he finally spoke again. "And I think I'm finally ready to accept that. I can't let your opinion influence what I choose to do or not don't do because, ultimately, I'm the only person who has to live with my decisions." 

His mom inhaled deeply like she'd forgotten how to breathe he was speaking. "Well, I don't quite know what do say to this," his mom said quickly.

"I think for once, you really shouldn't say anything," Ben said. "You either want to gave a good relationship with the son you already have, or a bad relationship because of the don you don't have. I'll let you think about it."

And with that, Ben stood, signaling to his parents that their visit there was coming to and end. Once the door had closed behind them, Ben turned to Rey, letting the tension of the moment leave with his mon and dad.

"Penis designs? Really?"

Rey simply shrugged her shoulders. "I told you not to let me stay," she said with a smile. 


	19. Chapter 19

Rey was tired. A kind of bone-tired that came from closing the bar the night before and having her shift start in the morning at the coffeehouse. Even though it was only about three fifteen in the afternoon when she walked into her apartment, she planned to head right to her bedroom and crash.

On her way through the living room, she saw Ben sitting on the couch, sifting through proofs he had spread out on the coffee table.

"Hey," she said.

He jerked his head up like he was startled by her presence. "Oh hey, didn't even hear you walk in."

"What are you doing?"

"Just sorting through some pictures to see which would be best to put in my portfolio." 

She took a step closer to the table and marveled at all the photos he had, some in black-and-white, others in a more sharp contrast. Either way, they were all very beautiful. "Do you have any favorites?"

Ben sat back and offered her a small smile. "Well, my absolute favorite one isn't in this exact pile."

"Why? Where is it?"

"Behind you."

Rey narrowed her eyes at him slightly before spinning around. When her eyes found what he was referring to, her entire body went completely rigid as her blood seemed to thunder in her ears. Emotions flooded through her system, overloading her senses.

There, on her bright coral-colored wall, was a framed picture of them that Ben must have snapped during the photoshoot. His arm was around her, and their smiles were wide as they looked at each other with affection that was so clear the word might as well have been stamped on them.

Since her eyes were on him, she hadn't even realized that he had taken it. It was somehow the most beautiful and most frightening picture Rey had ever seen.

Her chest began to heave as her eyes and throat burned. It felt like a panic attack was trying to take hold, but there were so many things at war within her, her panic couldn't quite get a handle on her.

Instead, everything seemed to converge into one feeling. Rage. 

She the whirled around to face him. "What the fuck is that, Ben?!"

Ben's face fell quickly, and he immediately sat up straighter as he answered her. "It's a picture. Of us." 

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. I meant why is it on my goddamn wall?!"

He looked confused and worried and even a little scared. Clearly, he had crossed a line without even realizing he had. "I just thought it would be nice. To have a picture of us in our apartment. We look so happy in it."

She then stormed over to the small frame and took it off the hook and tossed it into his lap. Then she pivoted and began hurrying to her room. She had to get away from him. Away from that fucking picture. But Ben seemed to be having none of that.

"What the fuck, Rey?" he said as he followed her down the hallway.

She opened the door to her room and tried to close it in his face, but he put his foot in the doorway to stop. "Move," she gritted out. 

"No, not until you tell me what the hell it is that I did wrong? You're acting crazy, even for you." His eyes widened as soon as the words were out of his mouth, clearly surprised he'd let them slip. 

His words hit her hard in a way that she'd never be able to articulate. Because even though she referred to herself as crazy in jest, it was a whole different thing to have it hurled at her by someone else. But she covered the wound in the way she'd learned as a kid---with barbs.

"I'm not acting, Ben. I _am_ crazy! Even spent a bit of time in a mental ward as a child because a few other foster kids at the house we were staying at decided that it would be fun to lock me in a closet right before we were supposed to catch the bus to school. I was tapped in there all day because my foster parents assumed everyone had got on the bus and then they left for work. I didn't talk much before that happened, but I hardly talked afterward for almost two years and started acting out. I probably would've bounced back faster, but one of the therapists believed that holding children tightly for extended periods would fix their attachment issues. That was a special kind of hell for an eight-year-old who was terrified of confined spaces. You wondered what my nightmares are about? Well, now you know." 

Ben looked sick, but Rey didn't care. He wanted to make judgements about her? Act like he knew her? Well, fuck him. He didn't know two shits about her.

Rey threw open the door and gestured around her room. "Look around you, Ben. What don't you see?"

His eyes slowly wavered from her. "Rey....please."

She wasn't going to let him try to deter her from her point. "Pictures," she answered for him. "Not a single goddamn one!"

Rey didn't even have any of herself. Offering to let Ben photograph her had been extraordinarily hard for her. But she'd fought through it because she had wanted to help him.

"Do you want to know why?"

He looked wrecked, but so was she. She'd been wrecked for such a long time. "The first reason is because I don't have any. My parents were too busy getting high to want to capture my family moments." 

She said the final two words in a tone that showed how preposterous the notion was. Rey's parents hadn't been entirely terrible people, but they certainly hadn't taken any family vacations or spent quality time together that warranted being immortalized with a photo.

"I don't remember anyone taking pictures of me in foster care unless it was for my life. And as an adult...." Rey swallowed thickly. "I don't need a photographic reminder of the people who come in and out of my life. Because I learned pretty early on is that people don't hang around, so why the hell would I hang them on my walls?"

"That's not true, Rey. Not every one leaves. And before you go on any further, you need to know that I--"

"Do you know how many foster families I was placed with?" She knew that he wouldn't answer, and she had a faint idea on what he was going to say, so she barely hesitated before continuing. "Fourteen. And do you know how many of those families told me I could get comfortable? That they wouldn't send me away?"

She raised her eyebrows in a challenge. "Almost every single one of them. And I broke a little bit every single time that I realized they'd lied until I finally smartened up and stopped letting myself get attached. People come and go, Ben. The only one I'm stuck with is myself, so I decided to start taking care of me. I know that might be hard for you to understand since it literally took you until you were twenty-nine to accept, but---"

"What are you talking about? What took me until I was twenty-nine to accept?"

"That the only person who should matter in your life, the only person you can count on to be there for you is you! If you think I'm wrong, well, look around you. I don't see your parents anywhere." 

Rey knew she was hitting way below the belt with that one, but she couldn't stop the words from coming out before they did. But she was thankful that Ben hadn't chosen to respond to her comment because she regretted it saying it as soon as it crossed her lips. 

"Being whoever the hell I wanted to be without apologizing for anything. That's how I know Sheev Palpatine Belson. He helped me get emancipated when I was sixteen." 

Ben took a step toward her, but something in her face must have told him to back off because he stopped suddenly. "But you do have people here who care about you, Rey. There's Rose. Emily.....me and I love you, so---"

She cut him off before he could add anyone else to the list because she was sure he would have, not to mentioned he probably would have added more to his declaration of love than was necessary, and she couldn't hear it right now. 

"I adore those girls, especially Rose. But they're not vital to me. If they dropped me tomorrow, I'd miss them, sure, but I'd be perfectly okay. I'd understand, and I'd be able to move on without skipping a heartbeat because there's no footprint of them on my life. No shared clothes, no borrowed items--"

"No pictures," Ben finished for her.

"No pictures." Rey sighed, some of her anger evaporating and resignation setting in. "Listen, you're a great guy, Ben. One of the best I've ever met. But I told you not to try to tie yourself to me and you did anyway, Because this was always how tis was going to go." She moved forward and tapped the picture he held in his hands. "I don't do relationships, and I sure as hell don't do memories. So with that being said, you do whatever you want with that, but I don't ever want to see it again."

With nothing left to say and her room feeling too conflicting, Rey pushed past Ben and fled the apartment, knowing she wouldn't outrun what had happened but determined to try anyway. 

* * *

Ben stood in her doorway for he didn't even know how long. It felt as though his limbs had been filled with lead. There was no way he could have known a simple gesture like hanging a picture of them would set her off like that. Could he?

He finally forced himself himself to move and went back to the living room where he plopped down on the couch, tossed the frame aside, and burned his heads in his hands.

When he lifted it again, he looked around the room and tried to see it as Rey did. Sure, there was shit around, little trinkets and such, but not a single picture in sight. He'd never even paid that much attention to that fact. He'd noticed it, sure. But as with the closet doors, he'd pushed it aside without really thinking about the why of it.

He picked up the pictured and studied it. It was beyond clear what he'd captured. This wasn't a picture of two roommates or even two friends.

The way they looked at one another---it was like he'd caught the purest manifestation of love possible between two people. Ben was sure of how he felt about her, and he was fairly certain of Rey's feelings as well. She was just too scared to admit it to herself.

He felt like he probably recognized her feelings even though she seemed incapable of seeing them clearly herself.

But how the hell was he supposed to get through to her when everyone she'd ever loved in her life had abandoned her? He didn't blame her for being so guarded. It was a matter of self-preservation. Ben's parents had always accused him of not being serious about his life, and he'd railed himself against that accusation at every turn because he sure as hell was serious.

Serious about his art, and he was damn serious about Rey. He _loved_ her. The main difference was, if he fell out love with his art, he was the only one who'd be hurt by it.

Should he try to get through her when there was no guarantees they'd ever work out? When he couldn't promise he wouldn't eventually leave? Just because he couldn't envision it happening didn't mean that it wouldn't. Rey clearly didn't feel like it was worth the risk.

And sitting on the couch, alone with his thoughts all over the place, Ben wasn't sure he disagreed. 

Rey walked. And walked. And just for a little bit of amusement, she walked so more. Her brain was in overdrive, and she couldn't sort through her thoughts enough to get any clarity. She was thankful she'd at least been able to stave off a panic-attack.

God, I am such a fucking mess.

She eventually found herself standing in front of a park entrance and turned in. She found a bench across from a fountain and sat down, staring at the after as it cascaded from the top tiers. A little girl was standing outside beside it, throwing change into the water and giggling as her father smiled at her and kept feeding her coins.

It was a Kodak moment if Rey had ever seen one, and it made her want to hurl rocks at both of them. Of course, she never _would._

Despite Ben thinking she was certifiable, she wouldn't actually hurt anyone. Except evidently him. There was no doubt about it---Rey knew that her reaction had hurt Ben. It probably seemed completely over the top to him. No normal person would go ballistic over a cute picture with her boyfriend. 

_Boyfriend?_ Was that really how she thought of Ben? When had that happened? Despite the walls she'd built to fortify her for a lifetime, Ben had managed to sneak his way inside. She hadn't even realized she'd been under siege until she'd seen that picture.

And by then it was too late. He was already in, burrowing his way into her like a fucking virus. Even when he left, there would always be a trace of him there. and that....really fucking sucked. Rey had a lot of issues, but being delusional wasn't one of them. She knew she came with an expiration date. Eventually, she started to grate on people until the relationship went bad and needed to be trash.

Some people had a higher tolerance than others, but the end result was always the same. So why put herself--and him---through that?

She'd warned him. She'd fucking warned him, and he stupid jerk hadn't listened, and now she was mentally berating herself as she scowled at the happiness of a four-year old because she had reached that level of fucked up. 

The one thing Rey had always had going or her was that she was unequivocally and unapologetically herself. 

So why the hell was she sitting on a bench and wondering who the hell she was? Or maybe that wasn't exactly accurate. She wondered who she _wanted_ to be. And maybe to answer that, she had to face some harsh truths. The first was that she'd lied about Rose. Rey wouldn't be even remotely okay if Rose stopped talking to her.

Maybe Rey had been able to keep the illusion that their lives weren't intertwined, but the truth was the two of them were like sisters. Losing that would cut deep, and Rey knew she'd do everything her power to make sure that never happened. 

Which begged the next question, if she was willing to do that for Rose, why wasn't she willing to do it for Ben too? There were reasonable explanations. She hadn't known Ben as long, so the trust wasn't as ingrained.

The nature of their relationship was different since Rey had no interest whatsoever in seeing Rose naked, and Rose was pretty similar to Rey. Ben was so different. 

Reserved and kind and gentle and normal. Though he seemed to like Rey a hell of a lot, so maybe he wasn't completely as normal as she had originally thought. The other truth she needed to face was that, even though she tried to pretend otherwise, Rey longed for human connections. She was lonely--had been for most of her life, though she wasn't sure she realized how much until Ben came along.

Ben had filled a lot of that void. It would be so easy to depend on that, and Rey didn't do dependence. That had gotten her hurt more almost anything else in her life.

But as she took stock of the ache in her chest and the gritting feeling in her throat, she wondered if it could really hurt any more than it did after walking out on Ben. Ben. At the thought of his name, an image popped into her mind.

Dark hair that he sometimes let grow out a little too long so that it curled around his ears, his square jaw that always looked bite-able in the mornings when stubble dotted it, his solid frame that enveloped her and had made her feel safe. A few stray tears escaped Rey's eyes as the realization hit her.

It didn't matter if she never saw another picture of Ben in her entire life. His likeness was imprinted on her brain. And it would always be there for the insanely complicated fact that, yes, she loved him back. She'd probably started falling a little bit in love with them that very first day she'd met him, and it had only grown stronger with every day that had passed since.

And as she continued to sit and watch the water, Rey faced the last truth she needed to confront. She was really fucking dumb. 

* * *

Ben stared down at his phone, wondering if he should call her or not. He wanted to make sure that she was okay, but would hearing from him only keep her away longer? The more time that passed, the more pissed off he got. All this because of a stupid picture.

And while he knew it was more than that, deeper, it still irked him that she hadn't even given him a chance to be her friend. If she didn't want more, he'd figure out how to deal with it.

But she could've at least been a fucking adult and talked to him about it instead of running away and making him worry. When he finally heard the door open a few hours later after she'd left, he'd worked himself into such a tizzy he nearly leaped off from the couch and rushed to confront her.

But he needed to keep a calm head. Freaking out wouldn't do the situation any good. He sat still and waited what she was going to do.

It took her a minute to come towards him, and when she did so, her gait was slow but steady. They looked at one another for a long moment before she spoke. "So I think I may have overreacted a bit."

Air whooshed out of him. "You think?"

One side of her mouth tilted up slightly. "I never claimed to be rational, Ben." No, no, she didn't. She stood there and fidgeted with her hands before crossing them. "I'm really sorry that I said all that stuff to you." 

"Well, I'm not," he countered, which caused surprise to flash across her face. "I needed to hear it. Even if we're never more than just friends, I still want to know you, Rey. I wan to understand you."

She snorted. "That's a really tall order for me."

Ben smiled. "It's kind of like a grande-quad non-fat one-pump no-whip mocha latte?"

That caused her to laugh loudly. "That drink is going to haunt me forever, isn't it?"

Standing slowly, Ben took measured steps towards her. "Probably. Because I plan to be in your life forever, however you decide to have me."

A smirk started forming on her mouth. "Oh there are lots of ways that I want to have you, Solo."

That sounded...promising. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Rey let out a breath. "The truth is, I've forced myself to be okay for so long that I never actually stopped to ask myself if I was ever actually happy. And I wasn't. Not until I met you. And I'm scared to death of losing that, Ben, and I'm even more of afraid of never having it at all."

That was everything he'd needed to hear. Reaching up, he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You make me happy too."

"I can't promise you that I won't freak out again."

"Just don't run away. If you're freaking out about something, then we'll deal with it. But I can't handle not knowing if you're okay or not. I _need_ to know."

She leaned towards him, and their arms wrapped around each other. "You're just too good for me. You know that, right?"

"No, I think we're good together. Perfect even."

They stood there for a while, and Ben relished in the closeness. Rey was the first to pull away. "So where's the picture? I want to hang it back up."

"You don't gave to do that."

"No, you're right, but I want to. I have to work on my issues. Especially the ones that don't make any sense." 

Ben wanted to argue that her issues made total sense, but there was a more concerning problem to deal with first and foremost. "I....kind of threw it out already."

"What? Why would you do that?! I love that picture." 

Ben couldn't help but laugh. "There is literally no one else in the world who is like you. You know that?"

"Yes, thank God. Now which trash can did you throw it out in?" She didn't even wait for him to respond before she went into the kitchen and took the lid off the trash can. A second later, she was back with the frame. She walked over to the hook he'd nailed into place earlier and rehung it. "There! It's perfect! Just like you said."

Standing in front of the picture, Rey didn't take her eyes off of it. Ben went over to her and slid his hands around her waist as he pressed against her back. "I couldn't agree more. We're definitely perfect for each other."

"You look like you love me in that picture," she said, her voice low and clearly fishing.

"That's how I look, huh?"

"Yep."

"Well, i do love you." Ben squeezed her a little tighter. "And how do you look?"

Nestling back into him, Rey relaxed her head against his chest. "Like I really love you back."

Ben had spent a lot of his life wondering if he was going the right things. But there, in that moment with Rey, he was confident he was exactly where he was supposed to be, doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing---loving this girl, his girl, with ever fiber of his being. And being loved in return. 


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally here READERS, the final chapter! I've hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I had writing it!

Ben noticed Rey leaning against the doorway of his bedroom, but he was too busy fixing his hair to turn toward her. 

"We're going to be late," she stated plainly. 

Ignoring her, Ben decided right then and there that his hair was a good as it was going to get and smoothed his hand over his black-button down shirt. He looked ready....but more importantly he felt ready. 

"Shouldn't you _not_ be late?" she asked. "After all, you are the guest of honor."

"Stop stressing me out," Ben muttered as he shrugged into his suit-jacket and analyzed his reflection. "Tell me, what do you think of this jacket?"

"I think it's going to be late to its own gallery show." 

"I'm pretty sure the jacket isn't the one having the show here," he replied as he slowly took off the jacket. When she remained quiet, Ben slowly looked over at her. She was looking up at him curiously.

"What?" he asked.

"I really think I'm rubbing off on you, and I'm not sure that it's a good thing."

"Why? Because I can't make up my own mind about what I should wear on the most important night of my life?"

"No, because you're talking about your suit-jacket like it's a living person or something."

Ben snorted. "You did it first."

He heard her sigh loudly, "Which is exactly my point, Ben. I am not your gauge for what's normal, all right? You know this or at least you should know this by now."

He decided to forgo the jacket, gave himself one more once-over, and walked over to her. Pressing his lips to hers, he gave her a sweet kiss that he hoped held a hint of promise of what was to come later on in the evening. "I've learned that being normal is overrated?" he said when he pulled back from her a moment later.

"Yeah, it's also....normal," she said. 

That alone made him smile. "How very eloquent of you, Miss Kenobi, and here I thought you were capable of mannerism."

"Whatever. I just get dumber when you're this close to me because all I can think about is how much I want to---"

Ben then covered her mouth with his hand, causing her to stop speaking immediately. "Rey, I am begging you, please don't, whatever you do, finish that sentence. A hard-on doesn't go well with this outfit."

A carnal smile immediately lit up Rey's face. "I highly disagree with that particularly statement, Benjamin Solo. I wish a hard-on would find its way inside my outfit. And in my body."

"Jesus Christ, Rey," Ben muttered as he let his eyes rove over the outfit she'd mentioned. She was in a formfitting red wrap dress that hugged her curves and dipped down low enough to show a hint of her ample cleavage. Her hair hung in waves around her shoulders, and her black heels were stilettos. "You look amazing. So we need to hurry up and leave this apartment before I suddenly decide to skip the show and stay here and fuck you senseless instead."

"How romantic are you," Rey said through a laugh as she started down the hall. 

As they walked past the picture of the two of them laughing on the wall, Rey kissed two of her fingers and pressed them against the glass, as she did every single time she left the apartment. It was something she'd started doing the day after their fight over it. He didn't ask her about it right away because he didn't want to jinx the fondness so clearly she had for the photo.

But after about a week, curiosity got the very best of him. Her response was simple. She said she loved the people in that picture and always wanted to make sure they knew it.

It was odd and quirky and so Rey that Ben felt like his love for her grew even more. Four months later, and she never forgot to do it. She'd also let him take a few more pictures of the two of them together, and she'd snapped quite a few on her phone as well, but they hadn't hung any up yet.

Rey hadn't asked him to, and he didn't want to push it. The one the had displayed was enough, at least for now.

They hurried downstairs and jumped into the Uber they'd requested that had been idling outside probably close to twenty minutes. "So sorry for the wait," Ben said to the driver after they climbed in.

"No worries," the guy replied as he put the car in gear and pulled out into traffic. 

Ben figured it probably didn't matter since he'd have to pay for the time whether the guy was kept waiting or not. Rey smoothed a hand over his chest. "I really like this while brooding artist thing that you have going on here, Solo."

Ben looked down at himself. "What do you mean? I'm not brooding."

"You're wearing a black shirt with black pants. It's very dark and mysterious. And the top button being left open ups the hotness factor."

"You don't think I should've worn a tie?" he asked.

"No. Hell no. Ties are so boring. And in this outfit, you are definitely anything but boring to me."

"So what I'm wearing actually makes you....excited?"

"I am _dripping_ with excitement, no pun-intended."

Ben knew they weren't being nearly as subtle as they hoed, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He stared for minute at the woman who made him feel brave and strong and so fucking alive he sometimes felt like he would burst from it. God, if there a way to be more in love with her, he was definitely feeling it right then and there. No words could describe how lucky he was to have her in his life. 

"I seriously couldn't love you more."

Rey seemed to startled slightly at his words, but then a slowly smile spread across his lips. "Right back at you, Solo."

He reached over and laced his fingers with her before settling back into the seat. The drive was fairly quick, and before he knew it, Ben was standing in front of the gallery that was showing his photographs, as well as some work of a few other artists.

He stared up at the building for a couple of minutes, trying to take everything in. Rey didn't say anything. She just stood beside him and shared the moment with him.

And he was supremely thankful for that. He'd hold his parents about the show. They'd congratulated him in toneless voices that immediately let him know they still found him lacking. And while that sucked, it was also okay. He hadn't done any of this for them. 

Ben was proud of himself, even if they weren't. "I'm ready to do this," he finally whispered. 

She squeezed his hand in reply, and they walked into the gallery. The space was fairly large and teeming with people. While Ben had hoped the variety of artists would draw a crowd, he hadn't even let himself hope for the kind of turnout that was awaiting him. As soon as they were in the door, the gallery owner's assistant was on them.

"There are already two critics here for the local papers, one from an art magazine, as well as three bloggers with impressive online followings. There are also quite a few buyers here. They all keep going back to your photos, so get over there and sell your ass off."

She have him a pat on the shoulder that was more of a push. He only made it a few steps before he froze. This was really happening. 

He'd put his work out there, and people were actually looking at it, critiquing it, maybe ripping it to shreds. He had so much riding on tonight. This was where he'd see if he really had what it took to make it in this world. _What if I find out that I don't?_

He'd managed to keep that doubt mostly at bay leading up to the show, but now that he was here, he couldn't deny how much he wanted this---wanted to fit into this world that he'd sacrificed so much to be a part of. 

"If you could not literally sell your ass off, that'd be great. I kind of need something to grab onto when you're banging the hell out of me later," Rey's words were whispered in his ear and broke through the temporary paralysis he'd succumbed to. She couldn't have said anything more perfect. 

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Good. You can, however, sell _my_ ass, since I see it hanging over there."

Ben looked in the direction of her gesture and saw a picture he'd taken in their kitchen. She had been trying to reach a bowl on the top shelf of one of their cabinets and had put her palms on the countertop top hoist her up. One foot was dangling while her other knee found purchase on the Kama Sutra tiles as she reached up for the bowl with one hand.

Her body was elongated elegantly and her dark hair cascaded beautifully down her back, perfectly illuminating by a ray of sunlight that peeked through the kitchen window. The depth of the field made the cabinets slightly out of focus, drawing the eye to Rey in the best possible way.

Ben had taken hundreds--maybe thousands-of pictures when the gallery had told him they wanted to feature his work after seeing his portfolio. 

He walked around fir weeks with his camera around his neck searching for inspiration. But he'd found most of it in their apartment. As it turned out, his muse was a foul-mouthed, sex-obsessed, gorgeous woman whom he was crazy about. Of the fifteen images he'd chosen for the show, seven of them were of Rey.

He would've put up more of her, but he'd wanted to show that he was capable of taking pictures of more than just one object. His theme was candids, which was vague as hell.

He wasn't sure how the gallery owner Siobhan hadn't objected to it, but he was glad since it allowed him to photograph almost anything he came across. And while printing and framing them had been expensive, when he saw them hanging on the wall, perfectly lit and in front of a crowd who seemed to appreciate them, the cost was totally worth it.

He'd worry about how he was going to eat later. For now, he was allowing himself to bask in the moment. He began to mingle as people came to look a his work.

Rey stated near him but seemed completely content to let him do this thing while she remained silent for support. There was interest in his work, which was enough for him. He hadn't come in expecting to sell much, if anything, and that was totally okay. He was in it for the validation.

And as much as it surprised him, he was getting it. As he spoke to a man and woman about where his inspiration had come from, his eyes immediately strayed to Rey. 

She was watching him, a slight smile on her face, her hazel eyes warm. He knew she was so much more than the inspiration for his art. She was his inspiration to be a better man. And he vowed right then and there to never do anything to lose it. He would try to go above and beyond, no matter what it took....for _her._

* * *

Rey loved watching Ben in his element. And no matter how nervous he'd been, this was his element. Talking to people about his art was natural for him, despite the fact that Ben wasn't typically much of a talker. The passion was clear in his tone, and it drew people to him and made them take an interest in his work. Even though by the end of the night, he'd only sold three photographs, he was still on cloud nine.

The gallery owner told him three was actually a good showing for an unknown photographer and that there would likely be more in the following weeks.

A few of Ben's friends, as well as Rose and Emily, had stopped by to offer him their support, which Ben had clearly been touched by. The night wore on, and Rey remained mostly quiet--a true feat for her---content to let Ben mingle and make new friends. But she couldn't lie. When the evening was finally over, Rey was more than ready to go back home.

Standing around saying nothing had been oddly exhausting, and as she got into the Uber they'd requested to take them home, Rey sprawled across the back seat, her legs dangling out the door. 

"Uh, are you going to scoot in so that I can sit down, or should I just lie on top of you?" she heard Ben ask.

Rey was silent as she thought over her options, but her thinking was cut short by the driver firmly stating. "Having sex back there is a hundred dollars extra, you two."

Rey raised up into her elbows so she could look at the driver. "A hundred dollars? That's all?"

The driver shrugged in reply. Rey had more questions, but Ben pushed her feet to the floor, casing the rest of her body to swivel around.

"Don't even think about it," Rey warned, though his voice was laced with humor.

"Too late. I've been thinking about it since he said it."

Ben just shook his head, but thankfully he was smiling. "I swear, Rey Kenobi, what on earth am I going to do with you?"

"Well, you're obviously not going to fuck me in the back seat of this car, so I guess I'm out of ideas," she grumbled.

"You? Out of ideas? Forgive me, but I find that highly unlikely." 

Rey couldn't suppress her growing smile any longer. Ben Solo knew her better than anything--for her to _not_ have ideas was just unheard of. "Okay, so maybe I have a few ideas up my sleeve."

"That's my girl," Ben put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. "Thank you, Rey," he whispered.

Craning her neck so she could look up at him, she asked, "For what?"

"Everything. For convincing me to get off of my ass and give my art a real shot, for supporting me at the show, for believing in me when my own parents wouldn't, for making me extremely happy. Just everything."

Rey tucked her head under his chin. "I don't think I've ever made anyone happy before."

The words were out before she could censor them, as usual. She truly did wish she hadn't said them though. They made the moment too much about her when it was supposed to be all about him.

However, Ben handled it only as he could. "Well, that's because everyone you've ever met before me is dumb as hell."

A laugh bubbled up as she tried to melt into him. The drive home passed quickly, and Rey couldn't help her own nerves from rearing up. She had wanted to do something very special for Ben to celebrate his achievement, and she just hoped he liked what she'd done. They walked up to their apartment hand-in-hand, and Ben moved to open the door, but Rey wanted to be the first inside.

She practically body-checked him out of the way before slipping her key in the lock and pushing the door open. Once they were both inside and the door was closed, Rey turned on a light in the living room.

She heard Ben suck in a breath behind her, but she was too scared to turn around and face him. So she stood rooted to the spot and let him wonder around the room and took in the change of the décor. After her initial freak-out over the picture of the two of them, Ben hadn't hung up any others. 

She knew he was respecting her space and giving her time to acclimate to their relationship. But pictures were Ben's life, and she didn't want him to compromise that part of himself just to suit her needs. 

Despite the fact that Rey said a lot of words over the course of any given day, she wasn't always the best at getting her meaning across.

So she decided to forgo words and give Ben tangible evidence of how she truly felt about him. How they felt about _each_ other. Because as she looked around the room at the various pictures that now hung on every wall in the room--as well as a few in the hallway---it was clear that the feelings were mutual. 

After a few minutes of looking around, he slowly turned to look at her. "When did you do this?"

"I had Rose and Emily hang them up while we were at your show. I drew them up a map and everything so that they'd know what to put where. Rose bitches about me being a pain in the ass, but it looks like they put each photo exactly where I wanted it."

"I don't....I honestly don't know what to say," Ben looked stunned, and Rey wasn't sure if it was the good kind.

"Ben, if you don't like them, I can---"

Her sentence was cut off by Ben striding towards her and crashing his mouth down on hers. The kiss was consuming and possessive and carnal, and it made Rey want to climb him like a spider-monkey. So she did.

Ben squeezed her ass through the fabric of her dress as she gyrated against him. She barely registered that they were moving until Ben plopped down on the couch, still holding her tightly. He slid his hands under her dress and groaned.

"Did you seriously not have any underwear on tonight?"

"This dress is too tight. I would've had panty line showing."

"I swear, you couldn't be more perfect," he said before he took her lips in a frenzied kiss and all but tore her dress from her body.

His hands left her briefly to undo his pants and then were back on her, guiding her to sit down on his hard cock. Rey moved her hands to grab onto the back of the couch as she rode Ben like her very life depended on it. His hands were all over her as he pumped up into her. The room was filled with moans, whines, and the sounds of smacking skin as the two of them tried to get as close to one another as possible.

Rey felt her orgasm building all too soon. She wanted this moment between them to last forever---wished she could photograph it and hang it on the wall in her room, which they both now slept in.

Ben's cock pushed impossibly deep, stretching the walls of her pussy in the most delicious ways, and she was a goner, her entire body clenching, causing her to fold over him as he continued to thrust into her. 

"Fuck yeah," he muttered before pumping into her twice more and then holding himself inside her as his own release emptied into her. He gave a few more shallow thrusts, his body twitching with his orgasm.

They rested their foreheads against one another, panting harshly. Eventually, Rey caught her breath enough to speak. "So, I guess that means you like the pictures, then, huh?"

Ben laughed, and it made his still half-hard cock move inside her, which made the thrill of a round two zip through her. He brought a hand to cup her cheek and pressed a kiss to her lips.

"I love them, as I love you."

"That's good to hear because you're never getting rid of me, Solo, no matter how hard you fucking try."

"You're never getting rid of me either, sweetheart. I can definitely promise you that," he replied.

Rey smiled down at him before wrapping her arms around his neck, reveling in the man who would be her last roommate and the first and hopefully with a bit of luck, love of her life. 

The End


End file.
